Market timing
Globally speaking, Forex market is a 24 hour, 5 days a week market. The only days when the Forex market remains closed are on weekends, i.e. on Saturday and Sunday. Trading begins on Monday when markets in New Zealand and Australia open. This is followed by the opening of Asian markets, then European markets, and finally the American markets. Towards the end of the American trading hours, New Zealand and Australia begin their session, and this timing cycle continues until the close of American hours on Friday. Broadly speaking, the Forex trading hours for each day can be split into three sessions:
-
The Tokyo session, which is usually active between 5AM IST to 1PM IST
-
The London session, which is usually active between 12PM IST to 9PM IST, and
-
The New York session, which is usually active between 6:00PM IST to 2:00AM IST
The earliest session, which has not been included above, is the New Zealand and the Australian session, which is usually active between 1:30AM IST to 9:30AM IST. However, volumes are relatively thin until the time Tokyo begins trading.
The Indian FX markets, meanwhile, are open between 9AM IST to 5PM IST.
Key trading hours
As stated above, the global FX markets can be split into three parts: the Tokyo session, the London session, and the New York session. The Tokyo session is the session when markets in Asia Pacific are active, the London session is the session when markets in Europe are active, and the New York session is the session when markets in the Americas are active. The key trading hours are when two markets are simultaneously open i.e. when there is an overlap between the trading hours of two sessions. This is also the time period when a lot of economic reports come out, especially from the continent that is starting its session. Volatility and volumes tend to pick up during the time between 12PM IST and 2PM IST (a period when London opens, and a lot of European data come out) and then again between 6PM IST and 8PM IST (a period when New York opens, and a lot of US data come out).
In India too, volumes and volatility tend to be high during the opening one hour, between 12PM to 2PM, and then again during the closing one hour.
Market holidays
Below mentioned is the holiday list for Indian currency markets for the year 2019.
| Date | Day | Details |
| 26-Jan-19 | Saturday | Republic Day |
| 19-Feb-19 | Tuesday | Chatrapati Shivaji Jayanti |
| 04-Mar-19 | Monday | Mahashivratri |
| 21-Mar-19 | Thursday | Holi |
| 01-Apr-19 | Monday | Annual Bank Closing |
| 06-Apr-19 | Saturday | GudiPadwa |
| 13-Apr-19 | Saturday | Ram Navami |
| 14-Apr-19 | Sunday | Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti |
| 17-Apr-19 | Wednesday | Mahavir Jayanti |
| 19-Apr-19 | Friday | Good Friday |
| 29-Apr-19 | Monday | Parliamentary Elections |
| 01-May-19 | Wednesday | Maharashtra Day |
| 18-May-19 | Saturday | Buddha Pournima |
| 05-Jun-19 | Wednesday | Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramzan ID) |
| 12-Aug-19 | Monday | Bakri Id |
| 15-Aug-19 | Thursday | Independence Day |
| 17-Aug-19 | Saturday | Parsi New Year |
| 02-Sep-19 | Monday | Ganesh Chaturthi |
| 10-Sep-19 | Tuesday | Moharram |
| 02-Oct-19 | Wednesday | Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti |
| 08-Oct-19 | Tuesday | Dasera |
| 21-Oct-19 | Monday | General Assembly Elections in Maharashtra |
| 28-Oct-19 | Monday | Diwali-Balipratipada |
| 10-Nov-19 | Sunday | Id-E-Milad |
| 12-Nov-19 | Tuesday | Gurunanak Jayanti |
| 25-Dec-19 | Wednesday | Christmas |
Kindly note that the holidays mentioned above are for the current year (2019) and may change in the future. To stay up to date, we suggest you visit our Holiday Calendar periodically. Alternatively, one can also refer to the circulars that are released by the NSE from time to time regarding market holidays.
Next Chapter
Comments & Discussions in
FYERS Community