CurrenlyzerForex Trading Sessions Explained: Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York With Real Hourly Ranges
The four sessions are Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York. London and New York together hold the largest share of the day’s movement in most major pairs, Tokyo matters most for the yen pairs, and Sydney is the quietest.
Everybody explains the sessions with their opening times. Fewer explain what the session does to the price. In this article each session is measured: the share of the whole day’s hourly movement that falls inside its hours, for each major pair, over the last 60 days.
Sessions overlap, so the shares add up to more than 100%. The point is the comparison between sessions and between pairs, not the total.
How much of the day each session holds
Pair by pair
| Pair | Sydney | Tokyo | London | New York |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 35% | 43% | 52% | 39% |
| GBP/USD | 30% | 39% | 56% | 42% |
| USD/JPY | 40% | 46% | 47% | 36% |
| USD/CHF | 34% | 40% | 53% | 42% |
| AUD/USD | 38% | 43% | 49% | 40% |
| USD/CAD | 30% | 34% | 55% | 46% |
| NZD/USD | 41% | 43% | 46% | 40% |
| EUR/JPY | 39% | 48% | 51% | 35% |
| GBP/JPY | 39% | 47% | 50% | 36% |
| EUR/GBP | 32% | 38% | 57% | 44% |
| AUD/JPY | 43% | 48% | 46% | 36% |
| EUR/CHF | 32% | 40% | 57% | 42% |
London holds the largest share of the day’s movement for the average of these pairs (51%), and Sydney the smallest (36%). Pairs differ: look for the ones where the Tokyo share is above average (yen and Australian dollar crosses) or the London share is the largest (euro and sterling pairs).
How to read the table
"Average hour" is the average range of one hourly candle inside the session, in pips or points. "% of price" is the same range divided by the price, which is what lets different pairs be compared. "Share of the day" is the part of the whole day’s hourly movement that falls inside the session hours. "Against a normal hour" compares a session hour with the average hour of the same pair over the whole day.
What to do with it
If you trade one session, use the table to choose pairs that actually move in it. If you trade all day, use it to see where a pair does most of its work. A pair with a small share in your session is a pair that waits for another one. The dashboard shows the same measurement hour by hour for each weekday.
The four sessions in one paragraph each
Sydney opens the week on Sunday evening and is the quietest session. Tokyo adds the Asian currencies, and the yen pairs are at their most active. London is the financial centre of forex and the session in which most volume is traded. New York brings the US data releases and the dollar into every pair. Because they overlap, the day is better described as a relay than as four separate markets.
How to check this in Currenlyzer
- Open the symbol in the analyzer. The hour table starts with today’s weekday.
- Choose the weekday you trade and the history: 7 days are open to everyone, 14, 30 and 60 days come with a free account.
- Look at the number of days counted under each hour. An hour with few days is a hint, not a pattern.
How we count
The numbers come from the live price feed of Currenlyzer: one-minute prices are built into hourly and daily candles, all in UTC. The range of a candle is its high minus its low. We use finished candles only, and we leave out hours when the market is closed and days that are too thin to count (the first hours of the Sunday open, short holiday days), so a closed hour is never averaged in as zero. Averages cover the last 30 days for the daily range and the last 60 days for hours, unless the text says otherwise. Pips follow the dashboard: one pip is 0.0001 on most pairs, 0.01 on yen pairs and 0.10 on gold. The same method is used in the dashboard.
Frequently asked questions
What are the four forex sessions?
Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York. In Currenlyzer they cover roughly 21:00 to 06:00, 00:00 to 09:00, 07:00 to 16:00 and 13:00 to 22:00 UTC.
Which pairs are best in the Tokyo session?
Pairs with the yen, the Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar tend to show the most movement in Tokyo. The table on this page shows the share of each pair’s movement that falls into each session.
Do sessions matter for crypto and gold?
Gold follows the London and New York hours closely. Crypto trades all the time but also shows more movement when the US session is open.
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Historical statistics for information only. This is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell. Past patterns do not predict future moves. Trading leveraged products carries a high risk of loss. Read the full disclaimer.