The Forex market is open and active 24 hours a day from the start of business hours on Monday morning in the Asia-Pacific time zone straight through to the Friday close of business hours in New York. At any given
moment, depending on the time zone, dozens of global financial centers such as Sydney,
Tokyo, or London are open, and currency trading desks in those financial centers
are active in the market.
In addition to the major global
financial centers, many financial institutions operate 24 hour a day currency
trading desks, providing an ever-present source of market interest. It may be a
U.S. hedge fund in Boston that needs to monitor currencies around the clock, or
it may be a major international bank with a concentrated global trading
operation in one financial center.
Currency trading doesn't even
stop for holidays when other financial markets like stocks or futures
exchanges, may be closed. Even though it’s a holiday in Japan, for example,
Sydney, Singapore, and Hong Kong may still be open. It might be the Fourth of
July in the United States, but if it’s a business day, Tokyo, London, Toronto,
and other financial centers will still be trading currencies. About the only
holiday in common around the world is New Year’s Day, and even that depends on what day
of the week it falls on.
