Trading session

The foreign exchange market trades around the clock on weekdays, but activity is not spread evenly. It moves with the working hours of the major financial centres, which traders group into the Asian, London and New York sessions.

Each session has a recognisable character. Liquidity, typical daily range, spreads and how cleanly price respects levels all change as centres open and close. The busiest period of all is the overlap when London and New York are both open.

Sessions are a description of conditions, not a rule about when to trade. They tell you what kind of market to expect at a given hour.

Choosing when to trade is as important as choosing what to trade. A strategy that needs movement will struggle in a quiet session; a strategy that needs orderly price action will struggle in the first minutes after a major open.

Today''s Trading Plan is organised around sessions: Trading Windows describe when conditions typically suit activity, and risk windows mark the periods to stand aside.

• Match your strategy to the conditions the session actually provides.
• Spreads widen and liquidity thins at session handovers.
• Session times shift by an hour when clocks change; the platform shows times in UK time.

Educational guidance only — never a trading signal or recommendation.