Automatic Forex Trading

Understanding Automatic Forex Trading Time Zones

For an average trader, forex trading time zones can be intimidating and difficult . Like many others , when I started in this global, cash, 24 hour market, the issue of time zones didn’t make much sense . Over time that would change and in this article I will share some basic insights as to how I handle the 24 hour market and when you prepare for your next trading day, it will help you out .

You first need to think about where you’re living , or where you plan to do most of your automatic forex trading trading from. This will be the single greatest factor affecting how this 24 our market is looked at . For the purposes of our example here let’s say that California is where you life which is on the West Coast in the U.S. and on Pacific Standard Time which is 3 hours behind New York’s East Coast time .

Now that we’ve determined that we are going to do our trading from California , which is 3 hours behind New York , the planning can begin for the automatic forex trading trading day. In this never sleeping 24-hour market ( although it does quiet on international holidays and weekends ) when the New York financial centers close the trading day stops and resets at 5pm or close to that in Eastern Standard Time and the Far East banking centers of Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc. open and start a new day at roughly the same time. So with that in mind it’s best to have your trading charts set up so that the candle or daily bar you use will close every day at about 5pm Eastern Standard Time.

So now we’ve determined that we are trading from the West Coast in the US which is 3 hours behind NY’s Eastern Time and we know when the market resets and stops to start a new day . Then we have to decide when we will get ready for another trading day. If you happen to be in California , like our example, and you happen to be a night owl then the London session is what you may want to prepare to trade which is from 1am-4am PST or 4am- 7am PST. Maybe you want to sleep through the London session because you like sleeping but you don’t have a problem being up early, around 4am PST (7am EST) so you get a look at the end of the London session and prepare for the start of the New York session which will really get going around 5:30am PST (8:30am EST) . Perhaps getting up early isn’t your thing and the middle of the day is when you prefer to trade; not a problem . Just wait for 2pm PST or 5pm EST when the day begins in Tokyo and you can trade FX during that major market session .

Now you have a good look at the forex trading time zones and what they’re about and you can accordingly plan your days . Keep in mind , planning and preparation are perhaps the two most over-looked, yet important factors of success in any business , including this one .  Making plans can be easy for your automatic forex trading day.