Trade on Forex runs round the clock 5 days a week except for weekends and holidays such as Christmas, New Year's Eve, and Easter. Moreover, trade is conducted in every spot of the globe, so when night falls in Japan, traders from America are only starting their working day. Due to such geographical differences, a day is divided into trading sessions.
A trading session is a period of time when trading activity is especially high in a certain part of the globe. For example, during the Asian and Pacific trading sessions traders from Japan, Australia, New Zealand and other countries of this region are most active. A trading session starts at the opening of a local market and ends when the market closes.
Why is it important to know trading hours?
The first hour of the market opening can tell a lot about the future tone of trade during a particular trading session. When the number of market participants increases, liquidity increases as well. Usually, it happens when trading sessions overlap.
What trading sessions are there?
There are four trading sessions, and the behavior of currencies, stocks, commodities, and other assets changes depending on the session. Here are the main features of them:
- The most aggressive trading session.
- More than half of all trade volume is conducted in the American session.
- High volatility.
- The most traded instruments are EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, and USD/CHF.
- US stocks and indices are traded.
- The most intense period with the peak of activity at the beginning and in the end of the session.
- High volatility.
- Most trends are formed during this session.
- The most traded instruments are EUR/USD, GBP/USD, EUR/JPY, USD/CHF, GBP/JPY, and GBP/CHF.
- EU and UK stocks and indices are traded.
- Higher volatility compared to the Pacific session.
- Daily trends are usually formed during the Asian session.
- The most traded instruments are EUR/JPY and USD/JPY.
- Japanese and Chinese stocks and indices are most actively traded.
- Low or moderate volatility on condition of stable global situation.
- The most traded instruments are AUD/USD and NZD/USD.
- Low risk due to low volatility.