Best times to trade forex: sessions and overlaps

The four sessions

Sydney and Tokyo dominate the European night; London concentrates the world’s largest volume; New York adds liquidity in the European afternoon. In local time, the centres open at about 8:00 (London and New York), 9:00 (Tokyo) and 7:00 (Sydney), and close around 9 hours later.

Because each centre changes daylight saving time on different dates, overlaps shift by an hour in certain weeks of the year. Our market hours tool calculates it live.

The London–New York overlap

This is the day’s highest-liquidity window: 8:00 to 12:00 New York time (about four hours, equal to 13:00–17:00 UTC in winter). Spreads tend to be lower and moves wider, especially on EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/CAD.

Asian session

It tends to be quieter on dollar and euro pairs, but it is the best time for yen pairs (USD/JPY, EUR/JPY) and Oceania currencies (AUD, NZD), whose economies are in their active hours.

Which moments to avoid

The Sunday open and the Friday close (wider spreads and price gaps), the broker’s daily rollover (very high spreads for a few minutes) and the minutes around high-impact news such as US non-farm payrolls or central bank rate decisions.

Choose the session by pair and by your schedule

Trade when your pair is active and when you can be focused. You do not need to trade every session: many profitable traders trade a single window per day.