A Global Market

Forex market operates globally 24 hours a day, starting from the far east, in New Zealand (Wellington), passing the time zones in Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Moscow, Frankfurt-on-Main, London, then finishing the day in New York and Los Angeles.

The western investment and commercial banks starts at 7:30 am local time. The most active deals are done is the far east, consisting of transactions in U.S. Dollar to the Japanese Yen, the U.S. Dollar to the European Euro, Euro to Yen, and the Dollar to the Australian Dollar. The focus often lies on the USD/JPY exchange rate, especially when the market rumors about intervention by the Japanese Central Bank.

At 7:00 am GMT time, the market in the European financial centers of Zurich, Frankfurt-on-Main, Paris, Luxembourg are open. However, the real powerful movement of the exchange rate starts after 8:00 am GMT time, when the London market is opened.

At 12:00 pm, GMT time the market is open. American bank dealers start working, and European dealers are back from their lunch. Forex dealers look forward to the opening of the New York market in order to receive fresh data about a possible movement of the rate.

US/CDN MARKET

ASIAN MARKET

EUROPE

EUROPE

PST

5a

6a

7a

8a

9a

10a

11a

12p

1p

2p

3p

4p

5p

6p

7p

8p

9p

10p

11p

12a

1a

2a

3a

4a

EUR/USD

USD/CHF

USD/JPY

USD/CAD

US/CDN MARKET

ASIAN MARKET

EUROPE

EUROPE

24 Hour Access to the World

Select the forex market, select the time, and start trading. The massive liquidity of forex, combined with a true 24-hour forex market that's traded 5.5 days a week, offers you exceptional independence and forex currency trading when you want to, not when the market wants you to. The forex market literally follows the sun around the world, moving from major banking and financial centers of the United States to Australia and New Zealand to the Far East, to Europe and finally back to the United States.

During each trading day, overall foreign currency trading volume is determined by what markets are open and the times each of these markets overlap one another. With each passing second, minute and hour, forex currency trading volume remains high, but peaks highest when the British, European and U.S. markets are open at the same time - from 1 p.m. GMT to 4 p.m. GMT. The volume of the Pacific Rim markets, such as Japan and Hong Kong, subsides compared to the crest of the U.S. market, but still offer the forex trader the ability to analyze the highly traded Pacific Rim currencies.

Forex Open Market Time and Volume (* time displayed as EST)