Best Days of the Week to Trade

Best Days of the Week to Trade

So now we know that the London session is the busiest out of all the other sessions, but there are also certain days in the week where all the markets tend to show more movement.

Below is a chart of average pip range for the major pairs for each day of the week:

Pair Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

EUR/USD 69         109           142          136      145 144

GBP/USD 73         149                 172          152      169 179

USD/JPY 41 65       82               91          12         4 98

AUD/USD 58          84                114             99       115 111

NZD/USD 28          81                 98           87       100 96

USD/CAD 43          93                 112         106       120 125

USD/CHF 55          84               119         107       104 116

EUR/JPY 19 133        178               159           223       192

GBP/JPY 100 169        213               179         270      232

EUR/GBP 35         74                 81           79         75 91

EUR/CHF 35         55                55           64        87 76

As you can see from the chart above, it would probably be best to trade during the middle of the week, since this is when the most action happens.

Fridays are usually busy until 12:00 pm EST and then the market pretty much drops dead until it closes at 5:00 pm EST. This means we only work half-days on Fridays.

The weekend always starts early! Yippee!

So based on all these, we’ve learned when the busiest times of the market are. The busiest times are the best times to trade because they give you a higher chance of success.

Managing Yo Time Wisely

Unless you’re Edward Cullen, who does not sleep, there is no way you can trade all sessions. Even if you could, why would you? While the forex market is open 24 hours daily, it doesn’t mean that action happens all the time!

Besides, sleep is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle!

You need sleep to recharge and have energy so that you can do even the most mundane tasks like mowing the lawn, talking to your spouse, taking the dog for a walk, or organizing your stamp collection. You’ll definitely need your rest if you plan on becoming a hotshot trader.

Each trader should learn when to trade.

Actually, scratch that.

Each trader should know when to trade and when NOT to trade.

Knowing the optimal times you should trade and the times when you should sit out and just play some Plants vs. Zombies can help save you a pound of moolah (pun intended).

Here’s a quick cheat sheet of the best and worst times to trade:

Best Times to Trade:

When two sessions are overlapping of course! These are also the times where major news events come out to potentially spark some volatility and directional movements. Make sure you bookmark the Market Hours cheat sheet to take note of the Opening and Closing times.
The European session tends to be the busiest out of the three.
The middle of the week typically shows the most movement, as the pip range widens for most of the major currency pairs.

Worst Times to Trade:

Sundays – everyone is sleeping or enjoying their weekend!
Fridays – liquidity dies down during the latter part of the U.S. session.
Holidays – everybody is taking a break.
Major news events – you don’t want to get whipsawed!
During American Idol, the NBA Finals, or the Superbowl.
Can’t seem to trade during the optimal sessions? Don’t fret. You can always be a swing or position trader. We’ll get back to that later. Meanwhile, let’s move on to how you actually make money in Forex. Excited? You should be!