CFDs including forex are part of a decentralised global market of derivatives. This is the market on which contracts based on currencies, precious metals, energies, indices and more are traded. The forex market in particular is the single largest market in the world with a daily trading volume of over $5 trillion.
When can you trade CFDs?
Let’s answer an easier question first. Where can you trade CFDs? The answer is almost anywhere. In bed, at work, on the train… Exness provides you with a mobile trading app or a web terminal so the potential for ‘where’ is endless. This brings us back to when you can trade.
Sessions of CFDs
Forex and other CFDs are a decentralised international market open 24 hours a day in most cases, five days a week, and at the weekend too for cryptocurrencies. Non-stop trading is made possible because as one main market or ‘session’ closes, another opens. Some sessions overlap at certain times of the day, which is when the highest volume of trading occurs. Each market has its own daily opening and closing times, but you’ll usually be able to trade forex from 21.05 or 22.05 GMT on Sunday evening until 20.59 or 21.59 GMT on Friday.
The major sessions
| Session | Main cities | Hours (GMT, summer) | Hours (GMT, winter) |
| Asian | Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong | 21.05-10.00 | 22.05-10.00 |
| European | Frankfurt, Paris, London | 6.00-17.00 | 7.00-18.00 |
| American | New York, Toronto, Chicago | 12.00-20.59 | 13.00-21.59 |
In practice, each major session includes a number of exchanges, and many of these are subject to different hours. For example, the USA and Canada change their clocks for DST on a different date from Latin America, most notably Mexico. Generally, though, the exact time of a particular session opening and closing isn’t of major importance to most traders.
Traders should also note that some instruments like metals and oil feature daily breaks. Some forex pairs including currencies like the ruble, offshore yuan, shekel, baht and so on also have more restricted trading hours. To check the trading hours for a specific symbol, simply right click on it in MT4 or MT5’s Market Watch and click Properties (MT4) or Specification (MT5).
Winter hours
Daylight saving time or DST is used by most countries except for those around the equator. This involves clocks being moved forward in summer by an hour and back an hour in winter. DST begins on different dates between Europe, North America and Oceania. The main difference traders notice is that most markets are open for an extra hour on Friday evenings in the northern hemisphere’s winter after every country has changed.
Holidays
Hours are also influenced by a number of holidays throughout the year. The most important of these are Christian religious holidays such as Easter, Christmas and the Assumption/Dormition. However, a number of countries such as China do not observe these feasts. In many cases, markets are still open on holidays; they’re just not as active as they usually would be. The best way to stay up to date on holidays is to use Exness’ economic calendar. This tool lists all significant holidays on which some instruments will be affected.
