What are forex trading sessions?
The foreign exchange market has no central exchange. It runs 24 hours a day, five days a week, by passing between the major financial centres: Sydney opens first, then Tokyo, London, and finally New York. When New York closes on Friday the market rests until Sydney opens again on Monday morning.
A "session" here means the working hours of the trading desks in that centre, not the matching hours of a stock exchange. You can still place orders outside a session — there are simply fewer participants, so price behaves differently. According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) triennial survey, London is the largest FX centre in the world, accounting on its own for roughly a third of global turnover — which is why the London session matters most in the day.
The four main sessions in Vietnam time
Vietnam stays on GMT+7 all year and does not observe daylight saving. Europe, the US and Australia do — so seen from Vietnam, session hours shift by an hour twice a year. The table below shows the two states you will see most of the time:
| Session | Vietnam time — Europe/US summer | Vietnam time — Europe/US winter |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 04:00 – 13:00 | 03:00 – 12:00 |
| Tokyo | 07:00 – 16:00 | 07:00 – 16:00 |
| London | 14:00 – 23:00 | 15:00 – 00:00 |
| New York | 19:00 – 04:00 | 20:00 – 05:00 |
The two overlaps that matter most, also in Vietnam time: London – New York falls between 19:00 and 23:00 (20:00 – 00:00 in winter), while Tokyo – London is a narrow 14:00 – 16:00. In other words, the busiest window of the day lands squarely in the Vietnamese evening.
⚠️ The table above is a simplification. Australia shifts in the opposite direction to Europe, and the switch dates in Europe, the US and Australia are weeks apart — during those weeks the real schedule matches neither column (in mid-March, for instance, the London – New York overlap stretches to five hours). The timeline at the top of this page is the accurate one: it computes from the actual moment, in whichever timezone you pick.
Which hours are best to trade?
Not every hour is the same. When two sessions overlap, far more participants are active, liquidity deepens and spreads usually tighten — which means each trade costs you less. That is why the session-overlap bar above is worth a glance before you enter.
- London – New York (19:00 – 23:00 Vietnam time) is the busiest window of the day and carries most of the market's volume. It is also when US economic releases land.
- Tokyo – London (14:00 – 16:00 Vietnam time) is the Asia-to-Europe handover: volatility picks up and the Asian range is often broken here.
- Sydney – Tokyo (07:00 – 13:00 Vietnam time) is the Asian session: usually calmer, with narrower ranges — better suited to range trading.
One thing worth saying plainly: the "best hour" is the one that fits how you trade, not the most volatile one. Scalpers need depth and tight spreads, so they pick the overlaps; range traders prefer the quieter Asian session; and if you hold positions for days, your entry hour barely matters.
Summer and winter hours — why the schedule shifts
Financial centres still open at 8am local time all year round. What changes is the gap between their clock and yours. Europe moves to summer time on the last Sunday in March and back on the last Sunday in October; the US starts earlier and ends later; and Australia runs the other way — its summer is the northern hemisphere's winter.
What that means in practice from Vietnam: the London and New York sessions move an hour later around late October, then an hour earlier around mid-March. Sydney does the opposite. Tokyo is the only session that never moves, because Japan does not use daylight saving.
When is the market thinnest?
The forex market runs continuously, but there is a stretch of the day when little more than Sydney — the smallest of the four centres — is open: roughly 04:00 – 07:00 Vietnam time, just after New York closes and before Tokyo comes in. In the Europe/US winter that window is shorter, around 05:00 – 07:00.
Liquidity is thin there, spreads widen, and price can jump on a single large order. If you leave pending orders or tight stops sitting close to price, this is when they are most likely to get taken out. Many professionals simply do not open new positions in that window.
Which pairs suit which session?
A pair is usually most active while the financial centre behind its currency is open. A quick way to pair them up:
| Session | Most active | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney / Tokyo | AUD/USD, NZD/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/JPY | Narrow ranges, often sideways |
| London | EUR/USD, GBP/USD, EUR/GBP, XAU/USD | High volatility, sets the daily trend |
| New York | USD/CAD, USD/JPY, EUR/USD, XAU/USD | Reacts to US economic data |
Gold (XAU/USD) is a special case: it barely moves during the Asian session, then opens up once London is in and is strongest across the London – New York overlap.
What are killzones, and when do they fall?
Killzone is a term from the ICT school for the narrow windows at the start of the London and New York sessions — when institutional order flow is heaviest and price often reverses or hunts liquidity. They are defined in New York time, so converted to Vietnam time they shift with the seasons:
- London Killzone — 02:00 – 05:00 New York time, i.e. 13:00 – 16:00 Vietnam time in the US summer and 14:00 – 17:00 in winter.
- New York Killzone — 07:00 – 10:00 New York time, i.e. 18:00 – 21:00 Vietnam time in the US summer and 19:00 – 22:00 in winter.
These are one school's convention, not hours published by any exchange. Their value is that they force you to trade inside a liquid window instead of entering at random all day — the label itself does not make a trade win.
Weekend gaps: why price jumps on Monday
The market closes when New York finishes on Friday (around 04:00 – 05:00 Saturday morning Vietnam time) and reopens at the same hour on Monday. Across those two-plus days news still happens: elections, central bank remarks, geopolitical events. Price cannot react gradually, so it jumps in one step at the reopen — that is a gap.
This matters directly for risk management: a stop-loss does not protect you across a gap, because it fills at the reopening price, not the price you set. If you hold over the weekend, size down accordingly — or close before the market rests.
Bank holidays thin the market out
The session hours on this page are a normal week's schedule. When a financial centre is on holiday, that session is close to empty: volume drops, spreads widen, and volatility disappears. A few to keep in mind: Christmas and New Year (almost everywhere), Good Friday (Europe and the US), Thanksgiving (US, fourth Thursday of November), Golden Week (Japan, early May) and Lunar New Year (China, Hong Kong, Singapore).
How do trading hours affect your costs?
Spreads widen when the market is thin — early in the Asian session, or right after New York closes. Entering then means paying more for the same trade. Picking a liquid window lowers your cost without changing your strategy.
There is one more cost most people overlook: the commission and spread you already paid your broker. Whatever hour you trade, part of that comes back to you as a rebate through Backcom.io — and for an active trader, the yearly total dwarfs the spread difference between one window and another.
