Some hours are better to trade than other hours. Here’s a list of the most volatile trading hours for each of the 8 popular currencies.
There are times when the market doesn’t move at all, and it’s quite boring. This is usually during the Tokyo and Sydney sessions.
There are times which are quite wild and unexpected, and your stop loss limits can be breached temporarily, throwing you out of a generally good trade.
In general, the best trading hours are 10:00 to 12:00 GMT, when trading volume is high, but there aren’t too many indicators.
Everybody knows about the most dangerous hour: 12:30 GMT (or 8:30 in New York) when American indicators are usually released. On the first Friday of the month, this is especially dangerous..:)
Here’s a list of the most volatile hours for forex trading for each of the 8 major currencies:
- Australian Dollar: 01:30 GMT. This is the time when most indicators are published. 04:30 also sees some indicators.
- Swiss Franc: 07:15 GMT. While this is the strongest hour, publications happen many times at 7:00 or at 7:30, aroung the major hour.
- British Pound: 8:30 GMT. Here, the timing is quite strict. Almost all the indicators are published at this hour. Only few indicators are not exactly at this time. 23:00 GMT (midnight in Britain) is also notable for some releases, but the major ones are at 8:30 GMT.
- Euro: 9:00 GMT. European indicators often come from Germany and France, and therefore the hours vary. Indicators start as early as 6:00 and end no later than 10:00.
- Canadian Dollar: 12:30 GMT. Similar to its neighbor in the south, Canada releases many figures at this time. Note that the releases vary in Canada: some indicators are released as early as 11:00 GMT, and as late as 14:00 GMT.
- US Dollar: 12:30 GMT. Most indicators, including the king – Non-Farm Payrolls are published at this time, one hour before the stock exchange opens. More than a few publications are made at 14:00 GMT, an hour and a half later. These 90 minutes are very volatile. Trading volume is very high. Banks in New York, London and all across Europe are trading at this time.
- New Zealand Dollar: 22:45 GMT. In New Zealand, this is the most popular hour. Another hour that concentrates data is 21:00 GMT.
- Japanese Yen: 23:50 GMT. This is very significant. Almost all the indicators are published at this time. Only a small group of releases are made at different times, with 23:30 being the most frequent.
Note that all the times were made during the summer in the northern hemisphere. You should shift one hour down during the winter.
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