It’s funny, I talk to traders all over the world and they are all under the impression that the best time to trade is 2 in the morning. If you think about it, 2 am can’t be the best time all over the world, can it? So when is the best time trade? The best times to trade in the forex market are when there is more than one market open, hence higher volume and higher liquidity.

By taking a look at the chart below it is apparent that someone is selling currencies somewhere in the world at any given time during the week. As one market closes, another one opens. The market begins it’s week in New Zealand, followed by Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and then America. The US and UK markets account for about half of all the market transactions and nearly two-thirds of the NY trading activity occurs in the morning hours while the European markets are also open.

Forex market volume remains high during the entire day but trading is generally heaviest when the major markets overlap, so the likelihood of a solid market move is highest during these periods.

Marilyn McDonald is the director of marketing for online broker Interbank FX. She can be reached at marilyn@interbankfx.com.