The global foreign exchange (forex) market operates 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, Monday through Friday. These opening hours are spread across four of the world’s largest financial centres, Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York.
These individual forex markets open throughout the day, with the difference in global time zones meaning there is always somewhere available for forex trading during the working week.
Forex isn’t traded on a centralised exchange such as the London Stock Exchange. Instead, forex deals are what’s known as over-the-counter, which means that it comes down to individual banks and financial institutions to arrange trades themselves.
In UK time, the market opening hours look like this:
- Sydney: 9pm – 12am
- Tokyo: 12am – 9pm
- London: 8am – 4pm
- New York: 12pm – 9pm
Related guide: Best and worst times of the day to trade forex.
Forex Trading Hours London
The London forex markets operate from the hours of 8am to 4pm local time. But that doesn’t mean you can’t move currencies around outside of those hours. Forex brokers (such as IG and City Index) in the UK will often allow you to trade forex 24 hours a day, by accessing different markets depending on which are open at the time of the trade.
This means that forex markets are open for trades by investors in the UK from 9pm or 10pm (depending on whether on daylight savings time or not) on Sunday night until 10pm on Friday night.
IG also allows trade for the USD/GBP pair over the weekend, from 4am Saturday until 8:40pm Sunday.
Forex Trading Hours New York
The forex markets in New York trade from 8am to 5pm Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday.
Local forex markets are closed or close early on New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President’s Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day (1pm close), Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Black Friday (1pm close), Christmas Eve (1pm close) and Christmas Day.
Forex Trading Hours Sydney
The forex markets in New York trade from 7am to 5pm Australian Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday.
Local forex markets are closed or close early on New Year’s Day, Australia Day, Easter Monday, Good Friday, ANZAC Day, Labor Day, the King’s Birthday, Christmas Eve (2.10pm close), Christmas Day and Christmas Eve (2:30pm close).
Forex Trading Hours Tokyo
The forex markets in Tokyo trade from 9am to 6pm Japan Standard Time, Monday through Friday.
Local forex markets are closed on New Year’s from 1st – 3rd January, Coming of Age Day, National Founding Day, the Emperor’s Birthday, Spring Equinox Day, Showa Day, Constitution Day, Greenery Day, Children’s Day, Ocean Day, Mountain Day, Respect for the Aged Day, Autumn Equinox, Health-Sports Day, Culture Day, Labor Thanksgiving Day, and New Years Eve.
Yes, forex trading is available 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday.
Forex markets in New York are closed on Thanksgiving day, and operate a half day (closing at 1pm) on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. However, these days are not holidays in London, Tokyo or Sydney, meaning opening hours during those sessions will not be affected.
Forex is open for trading 24 hours a day, 5 days a week in the London timezone. The London session itself runs from 8am to 4pm, local time.
The forex market opens for trade from 7am Sydney time, which is either 9pm or 10pm in the UK summer (due to daylight savings).
The four sessions in forex are Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York.
Jason comes from a background of wealth management, spending over 15 years as a private client financial advisor. Over this time he developed a keen interest in broader economic issues, markets and financial trends, and eventually transitioned into working full time as a writer and financial commentator.
Jason’s work has been featured in publications such as TIME, Forbes, Barron’s, MarketWatch, Yahoo! Finance and FT Advisor.
