A common misconception of the Forex market, is that it is open 24 hours a day every day. This is an advantageous feature of the market for currencies, which some Forex brokers as well as some promoters of trading tools and software packages, love to latch onto in order to attract new clients. However, the currency market isn’t actually always open.
Although you might have read or been told that the FX market is open every single hour of every day, it isn’t. The Forex market is open 24 hours a day yes, but not for 7 days of the week; it is open 24 hours a day and around 5.5 days a week.
The foreign exchange market closes around 4PM each Friday and opens around 5PM each Sunday, EST. This means that between 4PM on Fridays and 5PM on Sundays, EST, you will not be able to actively trade currencies. You should understand this information and try to work around it. Actually, it is quite good that the Forex market is not open every day, as it forces traders and investors to rest; it’s best to trade currencies when you’re fresh.
However, if you do like to keep busy, you might want to consider dedicating some of your free time over the weekends to studying and researching. This way, you will be able to gain knowledge when you aren’t able to invest, allowing you more time over Monday to Friday to practice and place orders. This is probably the most ideal way of trading Forex, no matter what your trading strategy is.
If this information is news to you, it is nothing really to worry about. However, if you are just getting started, you will definitely need to take this information into account when choosing your Forex trading strategy. This is because if you work a full-time job for example, you will need to try and find the time to trade Forex, without having to sacrifice your performance at work. It’s obviously advised that you don’t trade currencies at work; your performance at work would be poor and you would most likely not be able to concentrate on your Forex trading career properly – you could even get fired and lose your job.
Basically, you need to find time to yourself where you can really concentrate on your trading without any distractions. If you have lots of time on your hands, then that’s great, however if you don’t you might want to focus on more long-term Forex trading strategies (which require much less time). In fact, you should really focus on longer-term trading strategies no matter what your situation is, if you are a beginner; short-term trading strategies tend to be riskier and require more experience.
Remember that the times given above are also EST, so if your country is in GMT, the Forex market for you will actually close 9PM each Friday and open 10PM each Sunday. Using a world clock in Forex trading is important, so that you can keep track not only of when the currency market is open, but also of when the Forex market is most active – but that’s a completely different matter.
In conclusion, the foreign exchange market is actually open 24 hours, 5.5 days a week and not 7 days a week. It closes 4PM each Friday and opens 5PM each Sunday, EST. You should take the FX market’s opening and closing times into account, especially when choosing your Forex trading strategy. However for some people, even if this information is news to them, they won’t be affected; you should just ensure that you are aware of this information before making any plans.
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