The market is open 24 hours. It is not active for 24 hours.
Forex never closes between Monday morning in Sydney and Friday evening in New York. That does not mean every hour is worth trading. Volume, spread and range vary enormously across the day, and trading the wrong hour is one of the cheapest mistakes to fix.
The four sessions
All times UTC. Adjust for your own clock once and write it down.
| Session | UTC hours | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 22:00 – 07:00 | Thin. Ranges. Widest spreads. |
| Tokyo (Asia) | 00:00 – 09:00 | Orderly. JPY and AUD pairs. Often range-bound. |
| London | 08:00 – 17:00 | Largest volume. Trends begin here. |
| New York | 13:00 – 22:00 | High volume. US data. Reversals common. |
London is the largest FX centre on earth — roughly 38% of global turnover passes through it. That is why the London open so often sets the day's direction.