Guides When Is Foreign Exchange Market Open

Guide 19 July 2026

Forex Market Hours: When Is the Foreign Exchange Market Open?

The foreign exchange market is normally available from Sunday afternoon to Friday afternoon in New York, with liquidity rotating through Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York.

When Does the Forex Market Open?

The global foreign exchange market normally operates from Sunday afternoon until Friday afternoon in New York. A widely used shorthand is 5pm Sunday to 5pm Friday, New York time. OANDA, for example, currently lists most FX products from 5:05pm Sunday to 4:59pm Friday, with a brief daily break. Exact hours vary by provider.

Forex can trade around the clock on weekdays because it is a decentralised, over-the-counter market rather than a single exchange with one opening bell. As banks and businesses finish their day in one financial centre, activity is already under way in the next. The trading day broadly rotates through Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York.

That does not mean every currency pair is equally liquid at every hour. Nor does it mean bank branches, money-transfer providers or card networks process customer payments 24 hours a day. The market may be producing prices while a transfer is still waiting for local banking rails or a cut-off time.

Forex Market Hours at a Glance

The following times describe the main business session in each financial centre. They are useful guides to when participation is concentrated, not guaranteed opening hours for every broker or product.

Session	Approximate local hours	Approximate UTC hours	Currencies often most active
Sydney	8am–5pm	22:00–07:00 in AEST; 21:00–06:00 in AEDT	AUD and NZD
Tokyo	9am–6pm	00:00–09:00	JPY, AUD and NZD
London	8am–5pm	08:00–17:00 in GMT; 07:00–16:00 in BST	EUR, GBP and CHF
New York	8am–5pm	13:00–22:00 in EST; 12:00–21:00 in EDT	USD and CAD

Session names are market conventions. They refer to periods when institutions in those regions are most active; they are not the official hours of the Sydney, Tokyo, London or New York stock exchanges.

What Time Does Forex Open in Australia?

For Australians, the trading week usually begins early on Monday and ends early on Saturday. IG Australia describes its weekday forex window as approximately 6am Monday to 7am Saturday in AEST, with a one-hour adjustment when daylight-saving settings change.

Because New York and parts of Australia change clocks on different dates, the local Australian opening and closing time can shift temporarily. Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory also do not observe daylight saving, while New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT do. It is safer to check the current New York-to-local-time conversion than to save one fixed Australian time for the whole year.

The Major Session Overlaps

Session overlaps matter because more banks, market makers and customers are active at the same time. This often produces more transactions and tighter wholesale pricing, although economic news can still cause sharp moves and wider spreads.

London and New York

The London–New York overlap is usually the most active part of the global FX day. It runs for roughly four hours, from 13:00 to 17:00 UTC when the UK is on GMT and New York is on EST. During northern-hemisphere summer, it is usually 12:00 to 16:00 UTC when both centres are observing daylight time.

There are short periods in March and late October or early November when the United States and United Kingdom are on different daylight-saving schedules. The overlap then shifts by an hour.

Sydney and Tokyo

Sydney and Tokyo overlap during the Asian trading day. This period is particularly relevant to AUD, NZD and JPY pairs. Tokyo stays on Japan Standard Time throughout the year, while Sydney moves between AEST and AEDT, so the UTC overlap changes seasonally.

Tokyo and London

Tokyo and London have only a brief conventional overlap, and sometimes none depending on how a data provider defines each session. Liquidity usually builds as Europe opens even while activity in Asia is winding down.

How Daylight Saving Changes Forex Hours

Daylight saving is the main reason forex-hours charts appear to disagree. New York, London and Sydney move their clocks, but not on the same dates. Tokyo does not use daylight saving.

The safest approach is to:

use UTC as the common reference;
distinguish EST from EDT, GMT from BST, and AEST from AEDT;
check the date of the next clock change; and
confirm the live schedule published by the relevant provider.

A table that labels one fixed time as both “EST/EDT” is not precise. Those abbreviations represent different UTC offsets. Around clock-change weekends, a familiar local overlap may be one hour earlier or later than expected.

Is the Forex Market Open on Weekends?

Traditional spot forex is generally unavailable to retail customers from late Friday until Sunday afternoon in New York. Some platforms let customers enter, cancel or modify orders while the market is closed, but those orders cannot necessarily execute until trading resumes.

Important political, economic or market news can arrive during the closure. When pricing resumes, the first tradable rate may differ from Friday's closing level. This is known as a weekend gap. Liquidity can also be thin just after the weekly open, so displayed spreads may be wider than during the main weekday sessions.

Some currency services also charge more when the underlying FX market is closed. In Australia, Revolut applies a weekend markup depending on the customer's plan for exchanges made between 5pm Friday and 6pm Sunday, New York time. Its current published fees are 1% for Standard and 0.5% for Plus, while Premium, Metal and Ultra customers do not pay an additional weekend fee. Compare current Revolut exchange rates and read our Revolut review for more detail. Plan terms and regional pricing can change, so check the fee shown in the Revolut app before confirming an exchange.

Cryptocurrency markets are different and commonly operate 24/7. Crypto trading hours should not be used as a guide to traditional currency-market availability.

What Happens on Public Holidays?

The FX market does not necessarily close worldwide for one country's holiday, but participation can fall sharply when a major financial centre is absent. Christmas Day and New Year's Day commonly bring closures or amended schedules. US, UK, European, Japanese and Australian holidays can also reduce liquidity in the currencies most closely linked to those markets.

Providers may announce an earlier close, later open or longer maintenance window. If a conversion or international payment is time-sensitive, check both the FX provider's dealing hours and the banking cut-off times in the sending and receiving countries.

When Is the Best Time to Exchange Currency?

There is no hour that guarantees a better future exchange rate. Exchange rates can rise or fall at any time in response to inflation figures, employment data, central-bank decisions, elections and unexpected news.

For a customer comparing an international transfer or travel-money purchase, market opening hours affect availability and spread, while the provider's margin and fees affect the final amount received. Practical steps are more useful than trying to predict the quietest or busiest minute:

compare the customer rate with the current mid-market rate;
compare the total amount received after fees;
avoid leaving a time-critical payment until late Friday or a public holiday;
allow for provider and bank processing cut-offs; and
use a rate alert if you have flexibility and a target rate.

The busiest sessions can offer deeper wholesale liquidity, but retail pricing still depends on the bank, card issuer or transfer provider. A provider with a large exchange-rate margin will not automatically become competitive merely because London and New York are both open.

Forex Hours and International Money Transfers

“The market is open” and “the money will arrive now” are different statements. A provider may accept an instruction outside business hours but wait for compliance checks, customer funds or the receiving bank before completing it. Weekends and holidays can extend the delivery estimate even when a live exchange rate is displayed.

Before sending a time-sensitive payment, confirm:

when the rate is locked;
how long the quote remains valid;
the funding deadline for that quote;
whether the route supports weekend processing; and
the expected delivery date in the recipient's local time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is forex open 24 hours a day?

Forex is normally open around the clock on weekdays, not continuously seven days a week. Provider-specific maintenance breaks and holiday changes can interrupt availability.

What time does forex open on Sunday?

A common convention is approximately 5pm Sunday in New York. One major provider currently opens most FX products at 5:05pm. Always check the platform being used because schedules differ.

What time does forex close on Friday?

A common convention is approximately 5pm Friday in New York. Some providers stop quoting or accepting trades a few minutes earlier.

Why is my currency pair unavailable if the market is open?

The provider may be in maintenance, the pair may have restricted hours, a public holiday may apply, or liquidity may be insufficient under that platform's rules. Exotic and emerging-market currencies often have narrower dealing windows than major pairs.

Are forex and stock-market hours the same?

No. Forex is an over-the-counter global market that rolls across time zones. Shares normally trade during the opening hours of their listing exchange, although some venues offer pre-market or after-hours sessions.

Key Takeaway

The foreign exchange market normally runs from about Sunday 5pm to Friday 5pm in New York because activity rotates through Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America. The exact local time changes with daylight saving, holidays and provider maintenance. Use session times as a liquidity guide, then confirm the live dealing and payment schedule of the provider handling the transaction.

Sources

Market-hour information was reviewed on 23 July 2026: