Forex trading hours: sessions, overlaps and when liquidity actually shows up
Verdict
- The forex market runs continuously from the Sydney open on Sunday evening to the New York close on Friday evening (in UTC terms), but "open" and "liquid" are not the same thing at every hour.
- The London-New York overlap is the single most liquid window for most major pairs, typically producing the tightest spreads and the deepest order books of the trading day.
- The gap between Friday's New York close and Sunday's Sydney open is real: positions held across it can gap to a different price with no trading in between, which is when weekend risk actually materialises.
- Most brokers charge a triple swap on one specific weekday (commonly Wednesday) to account for the two non-trading weekend days, rather than genuinely tripling the daily rate arbitrarily.
- Asian-session liquidity is meaningfully thinner for most currency pairs outside JPY and AUD crosses, which is reflected in wider typical spreads during those hours.
"Forex never closes" is true and also slightly misleading, because liquidity is not evenly spread across the week the market is technically open. This page covers when the market is actually deep, when it thins out, and the specific mechanical effects — like triple swap — that follow from the schedule.
The four sessions
Market hours are conventionally split into four overlapping sessions, named for their major financial centre: Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York. In UTC terms they run roughly Sydney 22:00-07:00, Tokyo 00:00-09:00, London 08:00-17:00 and New York 13:00-22:00, with the exact clock shifting slightly around daylight-saving changes in each region.
- Sydney and Tokyo together are usually referred to as the Asian session.
- London and New York each open while the previous session is still active, creating two overlap windows per day.
- The market has no single global close during the week — one session's close overlaps with the next session's open.
Why the London-New York overlap matters most
For the majority of the trading week, the London-New York overlap — roughly 13:00-17:00 UTC — carries the highest trading volume and the deepest liquidity of any window, because both of the two largest financial centres are active simultaneously. This is typically when spreads on major pairs are tightest and large orders can be filled with the least price impact. A strategy sensitive to execution cost often performs measurably differently inside this window versus outside it.
The weekend gap is a real risk, not a technicality
The market genuinely stops trading between the New York close on Friday and the Sydney open on Sunday. Any position held open across that gap is exposed to whatever news breaks over the weekend with no ability to exit at the Friday price — the position simply reopens Sunday at wherever the new price is, which can be materially different after a significant weekend event. This is distinct from ordinary intraday volatility and is worth planning for explicitly if you routinely hold positions into a weekend.
Why triple swap happens on one specific day
Overnight swap is charged for each night a position is held, but the market does not trade on Saturday or Sunday. Rather than skip the swap charge for those two non-trading nights, most brokers apply it in advance or in arrears on one specific weekday — commonly Wednesday, though this varies by broker — charging three times the normal daily rate to account for Friday-to-Monday. This is a settlement convention, not an extra fee: over a full week the total swap charged is the same either way, it is simply concentrated onto one day rather than spread evenly.
- The triple-swap day is broker-specific — check which weekday your broker applies it on before assuming it is Wednesday.
- It applies to both long and short positions, in the direction the underlying swap rate dictates.
- Closing a position before the daily rollover cutoff on the triple-swap day avoids the charge entirely, same as any other night.
Liquidity outside the main overlap
The Asian session, roughly midnight to 07:00 UTC, generally carries lower volume for most major pairs outside JPY and AUD crosses, which shows up as wider typical spreads and thinner order books during those hours. This does not make the session untradeable — AUD/JPY and USD/JPY, for instance, are genuinely active during it — but a strategy built around EUR/USD spread cost should expect materially different conditions than during the London-New York overlap.
What are the best hours to trade forex?
The London-New York overlap, roughly 13:00-17:00 UTC, generally carries the highest volume and tightest spreads for most major pairs, because the two largest financial centres are both active at once. Outside that window, and particularly during the Asian session, liquidity is typically thinner for non-JPY/AUD pairs.
Why does forex trading stop on weekends?
The underlying interbank and exchange infrastructure that prices currencies does not operate on Saturday or Sunday in any major financial centre, so the retail market mirrors that closure. Positions held across the gap are exposed to any news that breaks over the weekend, with no ability to exit at the Friday price.
What is triple swap and why does it happen on Wednesday?
Most brokers charge three times the normal overnight swap on one specific weekday — commonly Wednesday — to account for the two non-trading weekend nights that would otherwise go unbilled. It is a settlement convention, not an extra cost: the weekly total is the same, just concentrated onto one day. Check which day your specific broker uses.
Is it worth trading during the Asian session?
It depends what you trade. JPY and AUD crosses see genuine activity during Asian hours, but most other major pairs typically show thinner liquidity and wider spreads than during the London or New York sessions, which matters more for execution-sensitive strategies than for longer-term positions.