Forex Market Session
Stock trading and forex trading are altogether two totally different beasts. Stock exchanges are open only for a fixed time each day. You can only trade stocks during this time. On the other had the forex markets are open 24 hours, 5 days a week.
This continuous 24 hour trading makes forex markets somewhat confusing for the beginners. Forex is traded Over the Counter (OTC) and there is essentially no open and close of the market, many new traders find it hard to adjust.
As there is no open and close of the forex market, many new traders get confused and dont know when the best time when major price action takes place is? So they sit in front of the computer all the time and in the end simply exhaust themselves losing their stamina. A clever way is to divide the 24 hour day into three 8 hour sessions.
Further divide each 8 hour session into two 4 hour sessions using a 4 hour chart. This division of 24 hours is logical as there are only three major money centers in the world that have the capacity to move the forex markets.
These three money center that are central to the forex markets are: Asia, London and New York. So by dividing the 24 hours into three sessions we will call each session as the Asian, the London and the New York Session.
Asian Session: Most of the turnover in this market session is handled by Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. Main players are the commercial exporters and the respective central banks. Since most of these central banks are in competition with one other, the price action during this session is jumpy and unsustainable.
London Session: London is still the forex capital of the world with deep and highly liquid forex market. Paris, Geneva and Frankfurt also are players in this session. The moves that originate in this session are very important keeping in view the amount of money needed to move a market this deep. These moves give you a lot of information about the market sentiments and positions.
New York FX Market Session: New York is second biggest FX market after London. Both of these markets overlap in the morning when New York is opening and London is closing. This is the time for major action.
The following table gives important times of the day that any forex trader needs to know: 00:00 GMT-Sydney Opens. 11:00 GMT-London opens. 15:00 GMT- London becomes very active. 17:00 GMT- London is active and New York opens. 18:00 GMT- London and Europe closes. 19:00 GMT- New York and Chicago getting ready for a close!
The overlap between London and New York is when major price moves take place. London is in fact the trend setter in forex as well as fashion.
