CurrenlyzerThe Quietest Hour of the Day for Each Major Pair
Every major pair has a quiet hour, and for most of them it falls between the New York close and the Asian open. The table gives the quietest hour of each pair and compares it with its busiest hour.
The quiet hours are as useful as the busy ones. They tell you when a pair is unlikely to reach a target, when spreads are widest and when to leave the screen. Hours when the market is closed are not counted; only hours with real trading appear below.
The quietest hour of each pair
| Pair | Quietest hour | Average range | Busiest hour | Average range | Busiest vs quietest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD/CAD | 23:00–00:00 UTC | 5.34 pips | 12:00–13:00 UTC | 20.0 pips | 3.7 times |
| EUR/CHF | 04:00–05:00 UTC | 4.28 pips | 07:00–08:00 UTC | 15.2 pips | 3.6 times |
| EUR/USD | 21:00–22:00 UTC | 6.20 pips | 04:00–05:00 UTC | 21.5 pips | 3.5 times |
| EUR/GBP | 23:00–00:00 UTC | 2.46 pips | 14:00–15:00 UTC | 8.00 pips | 3.3 times |
| USD/JPY | 21:00–22:00 UTC | 8.59 pips | 12:00–13:00 UTC | 27.0 pips | 3.1 times |
| AUD/USD | 20:00–21:00 UTC | 4.38 pips | 14:00–15:00 UTC | 13.0 pips | 3.0 times |
| GBP/USD | 22:00–23:00 UTC | 7.23 pips | 12:00–13:00 UTC | 20.8 pips | 2.9 times |
| EUR/JPY | 20:00–21:00 UTC | 11.7 pips | 08:00–09:00 UTC | 33.6 pips | 2.9 times |
| USD/CHF | 20:00–21:00 UTC | 6.04 pips | 12:00–13:00 UTC | 16.4 pips | 2.7 times |
| AUD/JPY | 20:00–21:00 UTC | 8.98 pips | 14:00–15:00 UTC | 24.2 pips | 2.7 times |
| NZD/USD | 20:00–21:00 UTC | 4.48 pips | 12:00–13:00 UTC | 11.7 pips | 2.6 times |
| GBP/JPY | 20:00–21:00 UTC | 14.6 pips | 08:00–09:00 UTC | 37.6 pips | 2.6 times |
The biggest difference between the busiest and the quietest hour is in USD/CAD, where the busiest hour moves 3.7 times as much as the quietest. Only hours with real trading are counted.
Why the quiet hours matter
Knowing when a pair does not move saves time and money. In the quietest hours the price often drifts inside a narrow range, targets are rarely reached and spreads are usually wider, so a trade that needs movement has little to work with. If you trade a range strategy the quiet hours may suit you; the point is to choose them on purpose.
How we find the quiet hour
For each pair we average the range of each hourly candle over the last 60 days and take the hour with the smallest average among the hours in which the pair really trades. Hours with fewer than five days of data are left out, so a single odd day cannot make an hour look quiet.
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
When is the forex market quietest?
For the major pairs, in the hours between the New York close and the Tokyo morning. The exact hour is in the table.
Why do spreads widen in quiet hours?
Fewer participants trade, so the best prices are further apart. We do not publish spreads because they depend on your broker.
Are quiet hours the same on every weekday?
Not exactly. The dashboard shows each weekday separately.
Related articles
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.