Forex Market Hours

When Does the Forex Market Open and Close?

The Forex market opening hours are a little odd. Most financial markets open around 8:00 am in the morning and close around 6:00 pm in the evening.

Forex is open 24 hours a day.

Since Forex lacks a central exchange, it moves from country to country throughout the day. Forex only closes on the weekends when most of the world’s banks are closed.

The Forex market opens every Monday at 8:00 am in New Zealand (Auckland). It then moves around the world to: Australia (Sydney), Japan (Tokyo), Europe (Frankfurt), UK (London), and the USA (New York).

It continues this cycle every weekday until it finally closes at 6:00 pm on Friday in New York. The market is closed for the weekend.

The ECNs allow the Forex market to be traded 24 hours a day which gives us great flexibility.

Why Are Forex Market Hours Important?

The Forex market cycles through different countries’ markets daily. It means that countries are more active at different times.

It is crucial to know about Forex trading hours as it impacts when and how you can take trades. Volatility can and will change throughout the day – you will learn more about volatility when you move onto my free course.

It also means that it can be confusing to figure out when the market opens depending on where you live in the world.

The easiest way to figure out when the Forex market opens for you is to use my Forex clock (in preparation). It shows you which markets are currently open or closed, and when the current open market will close.

Why is a 24 hour market awesome?

Having the ability to trade anytime during the week is, without a doubt, one of the best features of the Forex market.

Why is this?

Imagine that you want to day trade the stock market.

You live on the eastern coast of the USA. You wake up at 7:00 a.m. for work and get home around 6:00 p.m. That leaves you with barely any time to trade.

With the Forex market, you can get home at 6:00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m.—it doesn’t matter. You can open up your charts at any hour you like and trade.

There is no rush to open or close trades before the market closes. There are no daily price gaps on each day.

You can even trade on bank holidays. There will always be another open bank in the same time zone. Forex transactions can still be processed!

It gives us more flexibility with our time as well as improves our trading because there are no significant time restrictions.