Sunday opening times

[forex77]

Hello everyone,

I have been paying attention to this forum for quite a while and I think it's good and constructive and so I decided to register. Greettings to everyone. I got experience in stocks but are pretty new to forex though I have already done quite an amount of reseach already and is now ready to open a forex account

But I got some questions and if anyone can help here I would greatly appreciate. I am still confused about the Sunday's opening times (please use Eastern time for reference when answering) because different materials say different things. Most of the brokers claimed they open on 5 pm EST. Some articles are saying that the opening time for worldwide forex (I believe it's Australia to open first) is 2 pm EST while some say 12 pm EST Sunday. So, what is the actual opening time for Forex worldwide (not limit to North America) for Sunday? 2 pm EST or 12 pm EST? or 5 pm EST?

Question 1) Now here is an interesting question. If Forex opens on 2 pm EST in another part of the world first and since forex is a worldwide market and most brokers that I noticed in North America only conduct their business and allow their customers to trade at 5 pm EST, what happen if some important news starting to develop around noon Sunday and then starting to refect in the price of the the few major currencies in the Forex markets? For example, if some brokerage firms and banks in Australia, before 5pm EST, are already trading the few major currencies 50 - 80 pips away from the New York closing prices (as I think it's the last session to close on Friday) because of those important news (such as terrorist attacks or some central banks are having liquidity problems, just for examples) , are we subjected to a gap opening and a big potential loss because we couldn't do anything to our positions until 5 pm EST when our brokerage firms in North America open while someone in other part of the world has been trading for 2 - 3 hours?

Question 2) I also noticed that some North America's forex brokers closed at different times on Friday, some at 4 pm EST, while some at 5 pm EST. So, what is the official closing time for the Forex markets (worldwide, not just the U.S) on Friday?

Question 3 ) If I am right at the above assumptions, are there many or some forum users who have experience the aforementioned problem already ? (large gap between Sunday opening and Friday close, and they could have do something about their positions if they are allowed to trade at the same time as the Worldwide Forex open its trading on Sunday. Can anyone suggest some reliable brokers (ECN is better) who open at the same time as the Forex is opened for trade on Sunday (assume if the worldwide market opens earlier than 5 pm EST on Sunday) . If Australia markets really start at 12 pm or 2 pm EST on Sunday, then should I open an account with a firm in Australia to prevent such problems (as I think I will be a position trader and don't want to see that I can do nothing with my positions while somewhere out there in the world forex has already been starting to trade.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[forex77]

Anyone willing to help here? Thanks.

[Smoothtrader75]

You can check out OANDA. They are open 24/7, even Saturday and Suday. They do widen their spreads on weekends, but if there is a major move the wider spreads will make no difference.

Hopefully this helps.

[rezo_s]

Originally Posted by forex77

Anyone willing to help here? Thanks.

sure, in a moment

[rezo_s]

First, welcome and good you joined. Glad to see new members are coming, because from what I heared, this forum is losing popularity, and its a shame, because it has many valuable traders who contributed and still are here... amd also this place is full of huge material atchive and discussions, that cannot be found in any other place - I can definately claim that, because I know all FX resources out there.

Second, here is a link to what happened on this week GAP - exactly what you are asking about. Opening hours, brokers allowing weekend trading and other issues are also discussed there: link . Sorry for linking out, but it (the GAP over the weekend) was just couple days ago, and the thread is as relevant as it gets.

To answer briefly to your question, opening hours of FX are when actual trade takes place. Since we have banks and brokers who are allowing to trade on weekends as well - theoretically FX is open 24/7.

But how to differ where REAL forex opens? its when at least relatively large country banks open. If we take Chatham Islands or Fiji - it can also be considered as FX open. But FX opening as far as I know is considered to be oepning of New Zealand - check whats the EST by Google search. Closing is considered to happen with US and Canada markets closing on Friday.

Hope it helps,

Good Luck!

Rezo

[rezo_s]

Here is another way to look at market working hours:

As we know, FX spot is unregulated, OTC matket, and lots of volumes traded are unseen by market participants. Big volumes that can be monitored (by participants) are traded through variety of sources (electronic interbank/institution platforms) like Currenex, EBS, FXALL, FX Connect, and other interbank or bank based systems... quotes should mostly be coming based on those platforms.

And so, we can conclude, that once any one of those platforms is opening on Sunday in any country, FX is considered to be open, and once all of those platforms are closed on Friday afternoon, FX is considered closed.

Based on all of the above, i.e. that FX itself doesnt have established open/close hours, brokers also dont have any SOLID opening and closing hours.

cheers

[forex77]

Hi Rezo S,

Thanks for you reply and information. For Oanda, do you recommend them? I heard their spreads widen a lot during news but I don't trade news and it doesn't bother me. What I need is just a honest broker (ECN is better) who does not hold a position against me (take my order and if I win they lose or they win I lose) and have a conflict of interests. Other then their wide spreads do you think of other shortcomings that they have?

You seems to be an experienced trader and I have done some reseach on ECN and you mentioned Currenex. Is it just a type of ECN network or can I just open an account and trade directly with them? I am also considering Coes Fx and EFX Group MB. Are they true ECN brokers and how you rate them? Or if you have any other recommendations it's great.

ONE MORE QUESTION. Are most U.S. brokers closed during U.S holidays as well? If yes, then it's worse than not allowing to trade before 5pm EST Sunday because let's say, Thursday is a U.S holiday, and EUROPEAN and ASIAN Markets are open, will we be just sitting in front of the screen not able to place any orders? This is an important consideration which broker I am using a well.

Thanks.