Best Time to Trade

Best times to trade

As a new trader, trading can be very exciting at the beginning. The market is open 23 hours of the day, 1 hour for the roll over usually at 5pm EST, and 5 days a week. This mean, you have access to the market during those times and you can trade during those times as well.

However, as a new trader you have to understand when there will be volume in the market. To have good profitable trades, you should only be focused on times when there is volume in the market.

In very simple terms we can define volume as ”the speed with which the market moves”. There are certain times in the market when there is lots of volume, and those are the times best suited for traders to take advantage of the price movements.

Times of high volume in the market

Asian Session

Pre-Asian (6pm EST – 8pm EST) This is before the Asian Open. At times there is some volume at this time. As the banks and institutions get ready to open up, if there are large number of orders, we can see price moving pretty strong resulting in bigger candles. Bigger candles are a result of high volume.

Asian Open (8pm EST – 9.30pm EST) This is the official Asian open. Usually it will continue the momentum from pre-Asian. However, when pre-Asian session is consolidatin, or has low volume, we can expect Asian open to have some sort of movement. By 9pm – 9.30pm EST we also have the China open, so that also affects the movement of price.

After 9.30pm EST, price usually starts ranging and volume starts to die off. At this time traders generally should not be trading, however if you are holding positions based off of HTF, this could be a good opportunity to analyze the 4h timeframe and start anticipating where the London session could possible take price.

London Session

Pre-London (1:30am EST – 3am EST) This is the time before the London open. If the Asian session has been consolidating, then this is the time when you can anticipate some sort of price movement moving into the London Open.

London Open (3am EST – 5am EST) Most of the times, as a trader you will experience a lot of volatility at the London Open. You can expect deep liquidity grabs (movement of price in the opposite direction, so continue in its intended direction), and slightly higher spreads if there is a lot of volume. At time if price is trending since pre-London, then this time price may retrace to continue the momentum. If price has been ranging at pre-London, then you can expect the range to break and we can see a trend form.

London Close (10am EST – 11.30am EST) Most times we can experience a lot of volume leading up to the London Close. Since one the biggest market is closing down during a high volume New York session, there is bound to be a lot of movement in price.

New York Session

Pre-New York (6am EST – 8am EST) Just like the pre London and Asian sessions, there is often volume at this time aswell. This is a great time to look for trades in a trend continuation from London Session, or price corrections. Most times we can see beautiful price action patterns form that have a higher probability of working in your favour. Sometimes however, pre-NY session can also range, and when that happens, we have to wait till NY open.

New York Open (8am EST – 9am EST) This is the NewYork curreny market open. Usually if the pre-NY is ranging, we can see volume during this time. If price is at a range, or a minor zone, it is most likely to break during these high volume times.

NewYork Stock Exchange Open NYSE (9am EST – 10am EST) This is the stock market open. Equities are also open at this time. There is lots of volume in US30 and Gold at this time too.

Above mentioned we have different times when there is volume in the markets. Its not important as a trader to trade all these times. What’s more important is to identify which time is going to suit you BEST based on how your life is setup. Its absolutely crucial as a trader to adopt this type of discipline in their trading plan. This is not only bring a lot of balance between trading and regular life, but over time you will start to completely understand how price moves during the times you look at the market. Besides, spreads are the best when there is high volume in the markets ;)

*This is not financial advice, this is for educational purposes ONLY.