The Best Time to Day Trade the Forex Market
Carl's 2 Cents:
I am a short-term trader and
usually hold a position from 2 days to a week;
therefore, I don't focus on the "best times" for
trading opportunity. I normally set up my
entry order or adjust stop loss order between
5:00 GMT and 7:00 GMT. If your trading
strategy does not allow over-night orders (i.e.
day trade only), market liquidity and movement
are important.
The three major Forex trading 'sessions' are as follows (all in
Eastern Standard Time):
1. New York open 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM 2. Japanese/Australian open
7:00 PM to 3:00 AM 3. London open 3:00 AM to 11:00 AM
** Often, the best times to trade is at the beginning 3-5 hours
of the above mentioned opening times, because the major currency
pairs tend to move the most in a particular direction.
Especially when there are economic news releases.
THE ABSOLUTE BEST TIME TO TRADE IS FROM 3 AM TO 11 AM EST.
The New York and London trading sessions overlap between 7 and
11 am EST. The volatility is much higher and trading
opportunities are much more frequent with bigger moves,
especially in these four hours.
The currency pair that moves the most during these hours are the
Usd/Chf (#1), then the Gbp/Usd, then the Eur/Usd, then the
Usd/Jpy.
This is when you can make 30-100 pips trading in just a few
minutes or hours, using any of our strategies in any time frame,
especially around news releases.
If you need help in converting EST time zone to your time zone,
please use this world time zone converter:
http://www.worldtimezone.com OR
http://timeanddate.com/worldclock
DAILY FORECAST WEBSITES
First thing in the morning, I go to http://www.fxstreet.com to
check out some forecasts and news release times for the day. I
always check before I start trading and I write down the
support/resistance, trend, trading range, target highs & lows,
news release times, etc. on my Daily Trading Sheet, which is
provided in the Day Trade Forex Advanced course.
Another place to find out when the world economic news releases
are: http://www.Forexnews.com and scroll down to the bottom of
the website for the list of the current week news releases that
impact the Forex markets.
Most often, the economic news release is scheduled for 8:30 AM
EST. If you are in a trade at this time, make sure you have your
stop loss at a place you are happy with. The volatility is scary
and fast, but if you aren't already in a trade, you can jump in
once you see the major trend, usually after the first 5-15
minutes. Look at a 30 min chart to see the major trend.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Most of the Forex brokerages have now stopped
guaranteeing their stops during fundamental news release times,
as the volatility is so extreme, that the price can often move
faster than their servers can keep up with. Thus, please be very
aware that getting into and out of a trade when you want, can
sometimes be next to impossible. You can possibly encounter
several things during news release times: whipsaw of the price,
slippage, freezing of the platform, disconnects, re-quotes of
price, loss of money, etc. Don't bother calling up any dealing
desk to complain, as they are all now distancing themselves from
this problem, and they all have a disclaimer on their websites.
It is a buyer-beware type of situation. If you choose to play
the news, you have to be aware of it's risks. The rewards can be
very great in just a few minutes, or it can go against you. Make
sure that you immediately put in your stop.
About the author:
Erol Bortucene and Cynthia Macy are co-authors of 'The Day Trade
Forex System: The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide To Online Currency
Trading'.
Visit: http://www.daytrade-Forex.com
Sign up for the free 'Trade of the Week' for examples of actual
trades using the Day Trade Forex System.
Visit their other websites at:
http://www.successtrading2000.com
http://www.shortterminvestingsite.com
http://www.professionalForextrading.info
Written by: Cynthia Macy
|
