The forex trading time zones can be both difficult and intimidating to the average trader . Like many others , when I started in this global, cash, 24 hour market, the time zones issue never made a whole lot of sense to me . Over time that would change and within the article I'll let you in on a few basic insights on how I handle this 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 the place where you do your forex trade signals trading from. This is the most important factor that affects the way you look at this 24-hour market. For example, 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 three hours behind East Coast time in New York.
Now that we know that California is where we'll be doing the trading , which is 3 hours behind New York , we can begin to plan our forex trade signals trading day. In this 24 hour market that never sleeps ( although it does quiet on international holidays and weekends ) when the New York financial centers close the trading day stops and resets at about 5pm Eastern Standard Time and the Far East banking centers of Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc. opening, starting their new day, at about that same time . Keeping this in mind it's best to have your trading charts set up so that the candle or daily bar use use closes each day at 5pm EST .
Since we know we're trading from the US West Coast which is three hours behond New York's EST and we know when the market resets and stops to start a new day . Next we have to decide when to prepare and plan for the next day . If you're living in California , as in our example here , and you happen to be a night owl then perhaps you'd like to get ready to trade the London session which is from 1am-4am PST or 4am- 7am PST. Or, maybe you enjoy your sleep and want to doze through the London session but getting up early is no problem , at around 4am Pacific Standard Time so you're able to see the London session end and get ready for the beginning of the New York session which gets going about 5:30am Pacific Standard Time, or 8:30am Eastern Time . Perhaps getting up early isn't your thing and so you'd prefer to be a middle of the day trader ; no problem . Just wait until around 2pm PST (5pm EST) when Tokyo gets started and you can trade FX during that major market session .
Now you clearly have knowledge of the major forex trading time zones and you can accordingly plan your days . And remember , preparation and planning are the most important yet overlooked factors of success in all businesses, including this one. So this is how you plan out your forex trade signals day.
