The three major forex trading ‘sessions’ are as follows (all in Eastern Standard Time):

1. New York open 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM
2. Japanese/Australian open 7:00 PM to 3:00 AM
3. London open 3:00 AM to 11:00 AM

** Often, the best times to trade is at the beginning 3-5 hours of the above mentioned opening times, because the major currency pairs tend to move the most in a particular direction. Especially when there are economic news releases.

THE ABSOLUTE BEST TIME TO TRADE IS FROM 7 AM TO 11 AM EST.

The New York and London trading sessions overlap between 7 and 11 am EST. The volatility is much higher and trading opportunities are much more frequent with bigger moves, especially in these four hours.

The currency pair that moves the most during these hours are the Usd/Chf (#1), then the Gbp/Usd, then the Eur/Usd, then the Usd/Jpy.

This is when you can make 30-100 pips trading in just a few minutes or hours, using any of our strategies in any time frame, especially around news releases.

If you need help in converting EST time zone to your time zone, please use this world time zone converter:

http://www.worldtimezone.com

OR

http://timeanddate.com/worldclock

The following Yahoo link outlines the economic news releases for the week. I find it very helpful because it rates every release in terms of importance on a grading scale of A-D. A denotes very important down to D with little significance to the markets. It even lists what the market expects to happen with the briefing.com forecast.  I take the time on the weekend to make a note of the day and hour of the major US news releases scheduled for the next week.


Click Here for the Yahoo Finance Economic Calendar:

http://biz.yahoo.com/c/e.html

1. Check the economic Calendar

2.  Look at a 30 min or 1 hour chart to see the prevailing major trend.

http://www.fxstreet.com

I always check before I start trading and I write down the support/resistance, trend, trading range, target highs & lows, news release times, etc. on my Daily Trading Sheet, which is provided in the Day Trade Forex Advanced course.

Another place to find out when the world economic news releases is: http://www.forexnews.com

Scroll down to the bottom of the website for the list of the current week news releases that impact the Forex markets.

Most often, the economic news release is scheduled for 8:30 AM EST. If you are in a trade at this time, make sure you have your stop loss at a place you are happy with.

The volatility is scary and fast, but if you aren't already in a trade, you can jump in once you see the major trend, usually after the first 5-15 minutes. Look at a 30 min or 1 hour chart to see the major trend.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Most of the forex brokerages have now stopped guaranteeing their stops during fundamental news release times, as the volatility is so extreme, that the price can often move faster than their servers can keep up with. Thus, please be very aware that getting into and out of a trade when you want, can sometimes be next to impossible. You can possibly encounter several things during news release times: whipsaw of the price, slippage, freezing of the platform, disconnects, re-quotes of price, loss of money, etc. Don't bother calling up any dealing desk to complain, as they are all now distancing themselves from this problem, and they all have a disclaimer on their websites. It is a buyer-beware type of situation. If you choose to play the news, you have to be aware of it's risks. The rewards can be very great in just a few minutes, or it can go against you. Make sure that you immediately put in your stop.

About the Author

Cynthia Macy is a co-author of ‘The Day Trade Forex System: The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide To Online Currency Trading’ and has been trading stock options and currencies for over 15 years.

Visit:

http://www.daytradeforex.com/products.htm

Sign up for the free 'Trade of the Week' for examples of actual trades using the Day Trade Forex System.

For more comprehensive trading information, visit her other websites at:

http://www.successtrading2000.com/forex.htm

http://www.successtrading2000.com/IRStaxinfo.htm

http://www.successtrading2000.com/activetrader/

http://www.successtrading2000.com/tradingpsychology.htm

http://www.successtrading2000.com/ExcellentTradingEbooks.htm

http://www.professionalforextradingonline.info