vThe Best Times to Trade the Forex Markets

Many first-time forex traders hit the market running. They watch various economic calendars and trade voraciously on every release of data, viewing the 24-hours-a-day, five-days-a-week foreign exchange market as a convenient way to trade all day long. Not only can this strategy deplete a trader's reserves quickly, but it can burn out even the most persistent trader. Unlike Wall Street, which runs on normal business hours, the forex market runs on the normal business hours of four different parts of the world and their respective time zones, which means trading lasts all day and night.
So what's the alternative to staying up all night long? If traders can gain an understanding of the market hours and set appropriate goals, they will have a much stronger chance at realizing profits within a workable schedule.
The Forex Markets Hours of Operation
First, here is a brief overview of the four markets (hours in Eastern Standard Time, or EST):
New York (open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.): New York is the second-largest forex platform in the world, watched heavily by foreign investors because the U.S. dollar is involved in 90% of all trades, according to "Day Trading the Currency Markets" (2005) by Kathy Lien. Movements in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) can have an immediate and powerful effect on the dollar. When companies merge and acquisitions are finalized, the dollar can gain or lose value instantly.
Tokyo (open 7 p.m. to 4 a.m.): Tokyo, the first Asian trading center to open, takes in the largest bulk of Asian trading, just ahead of Hong Kong and Singapore. The currency pairs that typically have a fair amount of action are USD/JPY, GBP/CHF, and GBP/JPY. The USD/JPY is an especially good pair to watch when the Tokyo market is the only one open, because of the heavy influence the Bank of Japan has over the market.
Sydney (open 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.): Sydney is where the trading day officially begins. While it is the smallest of the mega-markets, it sees a lot of initial action when the markets reopen on Sunday afternoon because in