Hey guys, I’m just curious if anyone could recommend how to go about deciding which currency I should trade? I’ve heard numerous folks say that I should just focus on one pair rather than keep track of four or five different ones. I’ve also heard that I should avoid trading the asian session (is this true?). If that’s true, then my dreams of trading from noon to evening are probably over, and I’ll be forced to trade from evening to very late at night? I’m in hawaii, if anyone has any recommendations on what time and which currency pair to trade that’d be greatly appreciated. My ideal hours would be working in the daytime, but second best would be staying up late at night, least ideal is doing what I was doing months ago, waking up at 6am to watch the NYSE open (when i lived in Cali). Thanks all!
Hello, Bobby. Welcome to this forum.
Regarding your questions —
Examine your choices. You are in the Hawaii Standard Time (HST) time zone, which is GMT-10 hours.
So, here are the forex trading session times, based on your time zone (HST)—
The Pacific markets:
9am - 6pm (HST) - the Wellington New Zealand market is open
11am - 8pm (HST) - the Sydney Australia market is open
The Asian markets:
1pm - 10pm (HST) - the Tokyo market is open
2pm - 11 pm (HST) - the Singapore market is open
The European markets:
9pm - 6am (HST) - the Zurich/Frankfurt/Paris markets are open
10pm - 7am (HST) - the London market is open
The U.S. market:
3am - 12pm (HST) - the New York market is open
3am - 7am (HST) - the London / New York Overlap Period — this is not a trading session, per se. However, it is typically the highest-volume 4-hour period of the forex trading day, and often experiences the largest price swings of the day
How is this for a plan ? —
Trade the first 5 hours of the Asian Session — 1pm - 6pm, your time. The first 5 hours of the Asian Session comprise the most active portion of that session. Trade primarily the yen-crosses, especially EUR/JPY, GPY/JPY, USD/JPY, and AUD/JPY.
When it’s convenient, trade the opening of the forex markets in Europe and London, beginning at 9pm, your time, and going as late as you choose. The first 3 hours of the European Session (9pm - midnight, your time) often comprise a very active time in the forex market. Trade any of the European currencies (EUR, GBP, and/or CHF) against the USD, JPY, AUD, or CAD.
You’ll have to forget about the London/ New York Overlap Period, unless you develop insomnia, or just decide to become a night-owl. If you ever decide to trade in the wee hours of the morning (3am - 7am, your time), you might find opportunities with just about any major paired against any other major — that’s a total of 28 pairs which might be worth a look during this peak time.
As for whether you should trade just one pair, or several pairs, that’s kinda like asking, “Should I date just one girl, or should I date several girls?” That’s a totally personal matter, and I don’t think any one can advise you on it.
What’s right for you is whatever suits your temperament, your time availability, and your attention-span. Try everything. You’ll find out what works for you, and what doesn’t.
+1 on that. Well written Clint and solid advice. There is no one right answer and every traders needs to define what works best for them.
On the contrary I stick to the opinion that trading multiple pairs will help to diversificate risks what is very important in trading…