Trading sessions: which one is right?

Yes, the Forex market is open 24 hours a day, but that doesn’t mean that levels of activity are constant. In fact, it depends a lot on which pair are you trading. Let’s go by parts:

First, it is important you clearly understand there are FOUR different sessions on a typical Forex trading day. These are Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York. And below you can check times:

Sydney - Opens at 21:00 GMT - Closes at 06:00 GMT
Tokyo - Opens at 23:00 GMT - Closes at 08:00 GMT
London - Opens at 08:00 GMT - Closes at 17:00 GMT
New York - Opens at 13:00 GMT - Closes at 22:00 GMT

Why is it important to understand which sessions offers more volatility? Simple. You can open long positions and make money when prices go up. You can open short positions and make some cash when prices move south. But there is no way to profit when things don’t move at all.

Once you selected the pairs you are most interested to trade, you have to understand in which session they move more actively and therefore, offer more trading opportunities for you.

For instance, if you want to trade GBPUSD, the London to New York sessions will be your best choice. On the contrary, if you want to give the AUDUSD a try, New York to Sydney hours could work better for you. Also, keep in mind that eventually you have to rest.

It is important the pairs you choose to trade will somehow be concentrated on a certain session, to avoid working all day long and well, to get some well-deserved rest.

Overlaps work best. If you are trying to get the most out of your positions, trading during overlaps could be amazingly profitable as you mix activity from two different areas. Any data published during overlaps have a more significant impact on quotes.