Market Open hours

[Maximus_martins]

If the market is said to be 24 hours, why do I keep hearing “…keeping your position open until the next day” and if there is a daily close, what time zone does the market follow?

[DreamerROC]

Close is usually when the US market closes. However, daily bar opens will depend on the broker.

[Clint]

If the market is said to be 24 hours, why do I keep hearing “…keeping your position open until the next day” …

The retail forex market does not close on a daily basis. It closes for the weekend on Friday (or Saturday), and reopens on Sunday (or Monday), depending on your location.

However, at a particular time each weekday, each broker closes all the daily candles in their platform, and opens new daily candles. Here in the U.S., that time is typically 5 pm New York time. At that time of day, trading volume is extremely low, not only in the U.S., but all around the world. So, that time of day represents a lull in the trading day (worldwide), prior to an increase in volume as trading in Asia ramps up.

Intraday traders who concentrate on trading the high-volume periods of the trading day, such as the London/New York Overlap Period, normally close their positions before the so-called “close” of the trading day. In certain circumstances, however, they might consider holding a position “overnight” – meaning into the next trading day.

Also, at the “close” of each trading day, each broker charges a roll-over fee on each open position. Closing an open position prior to the specified daily close avoids that fee, and some traders take such roll-over fees into account, when deciding whether to hold, or close, an open position.

… and if there is a daily close, what time zone does the market follow?

The daily “close” varies somewhat from country to country, and from broker to broker. There is a good reason for brokers all over the world to adopt 5 pm New York time as their “daily closing time”, but not all brokers follow this schedule.

Your broker’s “daily closing time” will show up as the time each day when a daily candle closes, and a new daily candle opens. So, you can simply watch your charts to determine this time.

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Here are quotes from two previous posts which should shed further light on your questions.

This quote is from an August 2011 post –

When does the market open on Sunday?

The largest banks in the interbank network do not close over the weekend, although on weekends they may be manned by minimum staff. These banks are available to one another, and to their largest customers, to transact essential business regardless of time of day, or day of the week.

The retail forex market — our little corner of the worldwide currency market — closes for the majority of the weekend, because that’s the way retail forex brokers generally choose to do business. They could operate 24/7, if they determined that there was a compelling reason to do so.

Generally, retail forex brokers close trading for the week at about the time that the normal business day ends in New York. Currently, that would be 5pm Friday New York time, 10pm Friday London time, 11pm Friday Zurich time, 6am Saturday Tokyo time, 7am Saturday Sydney (Australia) time, and 9am Saturday Wellington (New Zealand) time. The actual weekly close of retail trading varies somewhat, from broker to broker.

And generally, retail forex brokers open trading for the week at about the time that the normal business day begins in New Zealand. Currently, that would be 8am Monday Wellington (New Zealand) time, 6am Monday Sydney (Australia) time, 5am Monday Tokyo time, 10pm Sunday Zurich time, 9pm Sunday London time, and 4pm Sunday New York time. The actual weekly opening of retail trading varies somewhat, from broker to broker.

If you trade through a U.S. broker, your broker will open his trading platform sometime before 5pm New York time on Sunday. Don’t be surprised if the actual opening time varies from week to week. I have seen FXCM, for example, open their platform at various times between 3pm and 5pm on Sunday.

And don’t be surprised if the various currency pairs do not open simultaneously. FXCM open pairs sequentially, beginning with the EUR/USD, then the USD/JPY, etc., opening them in their order of importance, according to worldwide trading volume.

In the final analysis, the answer to your question — when does the market open on Sunday? — depends on your particular broker.

This quote is from an August 2012 post –

Time close and open of forex broker

Times, and time zones, and the so-called “opening” and “closing” times of the forex market in various countries — these are all complicated topics for newbies. So, let’s take it slowly, from the top.

B[/B] The worldwide foreign exchange market [B]never[/B] closes for the big players (central banks, multinational corporations, large hedge funds, ultra-high-net-worth individuals, and of course the big banks which comprise the interbank network).

B[/B] Little guys, like us, do not have access to the big banks in the interbank network, where the currency market is actually “made”. So, we have to trade through a retail broker. We have access to the broker, and the broker has access to one or more big banks in the interbank network.

But, retail brokers do not remain open for trading 365 days per year. Instead, they are open, continuously for 24 hours per day, for about 122 hours each week. Typically, a retail broker will begin feeding live prices to their trading platforms and charts at about the time that the normal business day begins on Monday morning in New Zealand; and they will continue their live price feeds non-stop until the normal business day ends on Friday afternoon in New York.

The normal business day in New Zealand begins each day at 8am (New Zealand time), which is 20:00 GMT. The normal business day in New York ends each day at 5pm (New York time), which is 22:00 GMT.

So, generally, retail forex brokers are open for trading from 20:00 GMT on Sunday (8am Monday in New Zealand), until 22:00 GMT on Friday (5pm Friday in New York) — 122 hours total, each week.

[B]But, brokers may vary these times, according to their own business models.[/B]

[B]So, the short answer to your question is: No, brokers do not all open and close at exactly the same time. [/B]

Check with your own broker to determine what their trading hours are.

B[/B] The question of when “the forex market” opens and closes in each country causes great confusion for newbies. We generally say that the forex market opens in each country when the normal business day begins; and the forex market closes in each country when the normal business day ends.

However, forex trading does not end in any country, just because banks and businesses are closed for the night. Forex trading can, and does, continue around-the-clock in every country.

[B]So, this whole idea of a forex market which “opens” and “closes” is really a very broad generalization.[/B]

What really happens is that trading volume falls off dramatically in the overnight period in each country. In other words, forex trading volume tends to mimic the normal business day, even though the forex market is open to all participants 24 hours per day.

Further complicating the issue of “opening” times and “closing” times is the fact that “the normal business day” varies somewhat from country to country. In the U.S., the business day (generally) is 8am to 5pm. But, in Spain, and Japan, and in many other countries, “the normal business day” generally starts later and ends later than in the U.S.

So, when we say, for instance, that the forex market in Europe opens at 8am Zurich time, and closes at 5pm Zurich time, we are making two huge generalizations —

First, it’s true that most of Europe’s foreign exchange transaction volume each day occurs between those times; but, not all of it. My estimate is that about 83% of total daily foreign exchange volume in each country occurs between 8am and 5pm local time. The other 17% occurs in the overnight hours (5pm-8am).

Second, not all of the countries of Europe conform to an 8am-5pm business day.

B[/B] All that being said, it’s useful to generalize the shifts in worldwide forex trading volume in this way. So, first we generalize that the normal business day everywhere in the world is such-and-such, and then we generalize that the forex market conforms to the normal business day.

Some traders (arbitrarily) pick 8am-5pm as the normal business day in each location. These are the times that I use. Some other traders pick 9am-5pm, or 8am-4pm. Some traders try to fine-tune their market times, and claim, for instance, that the normal business day in New Zealand is different from the normal business day in Singapore, and so forth.

Keep in mind: It’s a generalization! You can get carried away obsessing over precision!

[ria_rose]

Wow. This was super informative and helpful Clint! I get confused about this sometimes so super thanks for this!

[Luke_Ronchi]

Are you talking about daily close? It depends on your broker (which session they actually follow).

[Maximus_martins]

Thank you so much Clint, this is very informative. I have no misunderstanding in the topic anymore, I’m grateful.

[flamingoproxy]

This was super informative and helpful Clint!

Clint’s posts tend to be like that (i wish they’d employ him to re-write the educational pages, here), he’s a great advantage to the forum

thank you, Clint