CurrenlyzerWhen Does Gold Move the Most? Hour by Hour
Gold moves most in the hours when London and New York are both open. The grid shows the average range of gold for each hour of each weekday over the last 90 days; the darkest cells are the busiest.
Gold is a 24-hour market with a very uneven day. Instead of an average, this article shows the whole grid: every weekday against every hour. The dark cells are where gold usually moves most, and the empty cells are the hours when it does not trade.
Gold (XAUUSD): every weekday, every hour
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Hours are UTC. Darker means a bigger average range for that hour. Empty cells: no trading in that hour.
Across the week the busiest hour of Gold (XAUUSD) is 13:00–14:00 UTC and the quietest open hour is 20:00–21:00 UTC. The grid shows how that changes from Monday to Friday. Gaps are hours when Gold (XAUUSD) is not traded.
Gold (XAUUSD) range by hour of the day
The busiest hour is 13:00–14:00 UTC with an average range of 250 pips, which is London + New York time. The three busiest hours are 13:00–14:00 UTC, 12:00–13:00 UTC and 14:00–15:00 UTC. The quietest hour is 20:00–21:00 UTC, with 93.3 pips: the busiest hour moves about 2.7 times as much. The four busiest hours together hold 26% of the whole day's hourly movement.
The five busiest hours
| # | Hour | Average range | Session | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13:00–14:00 UTC | 250 pips | London + New York | 43 days |
| 2 | 12:00–13:00 UTC | 246 pips | London | 44 days |
| 3 | 14:00–15:00 UTC | 223 pips | London + New York | 44 days |
| 4 | 01:00–02:00 UTC | 214 pips | Sydney + Tokyo | 44 days |
| 5 | 05:00–06:00 UTC | 182 pips | Sydney + Tokyo | 44 days |
Every hour of every weekday for XAUUSD (18 more) →
Which session is busiest for Gold (XAUUSD)
Measured by average hourly range, the London session is the busiest for Gold (XAUUSD). A session average hides the single hours inside it, which is why the hour chart above is more useful than the session names alone.
The weekday matters too
Over the last 90 days Gold (XAUUSD) moved most on Wednesday (an average daily range of 1,004 pips) and least on Monday (743 pips). The weekday and the hour combine: a busy hour on a busy weekday is not the same as the same hour on the quietest day.
How to use this
The hour chart tells you when Gold (XAUUSD) usually has room to move, not which way it will go. Many traders use it to avoid the hours when little happens, or to be at the screen when movement is likely. The hours above are in UTC and shown in your own time zone where your browser allows it. Check the same hour in the dashboard before you rely on it, because it also shows how often that hour closed higher or lower and how many days stand behind the number.
How to read the grid
Each cell is the average range of one hour on one weekday, shown as a percentage of the price over the last 90 days. A darker cell means a bigger average range. Rows are weekdays and columns are hours in UTC. Empty cells are hours when the symbol is not traded. Reading across a row shows the shape of a day; reading down a column shows how one hour changes during the week.
What to look for
Look for the darkest cluster of cells: that is the window where most of the week’s movement lies. Then look at whether it is the same on every weekday or only on some. A cluster that appears on one weekday only is usually a scheduled release; a cluster that appears every day is a session effect.
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 does gold move the most?
In the hours around the London and New York overlap. The busiest hour of the last 60 days is 13:00–14:00 UTC.
Does gold trade on Saturday?
No. There are no candles for gold on Saturday and only the last hours of Sunday.
Why is gold quiet in some hours?
Between the New York close and the Tokyo morning there are fewer participants.
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.