CurrenlyzerDoes Volatility Rise Before the US Open?
For most major pairs the hourly range steps up at 12:00 to 14:00 UTC, when US data is released and the US stock market opens. The table compares those hours with the hour before them.
The US session brings scheduled news (many releases are at 12:30 or 13:30 UTC) and the opening of the US stock market (13:30 or 14:30 UTC). Is the rise in volatility visible in the hourly ranges? The table shows the numbers.
The hours around the US open
| Pair | 11:00 UTC | 12:00 UTC | 13:00 UTC | 14:00 UTC | Busiest of 12 to 14 | Against 11:00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 12.1 | 18.2 | 15.9 | 15.2 | 12:00 UTC | 1.50 times |
| GBP/USD | 15.2 | 20.8 | 19.9 | 18.8 | 12:00 UTC | 1.37 times |
| USD/JPY | 19.1 | 27.0 | 24.7 | 25.9 | 12:00 UTC | 1.41 times |
| USD/CHF | 10.8 | 16.4 | 14.8 | 15.7 | 12:00 UTC | 1.52 times |
| AUD/USD | 8.32 | 12.2 | 11.0 | 13.0 | 14:00 UTC | 1.56 times |
| USD/CAD | 12.9 | 20.0 | 18.7 | 17.3 | 12:00 UTC | 1.55 times |
| NZD/USD | 7.80 | 11.7 | 10.2 | 10.7 | 12:00 UTC | 1.50 times |
Average range of the hourly candle in pips, last 60 days, full days only.
The last column divides the busiest of the 12:00, 13:00 and 14:00 hours by the 11:00 hour. A value above 1.00 means the range grows into the US session. Release times of US data and the stock market open move by an hour with the change of summer time, which smears the step over two hours.
How to read the hours
The table shows the average range of four hourly candles for each pair, so you can see whether the step up happens at 12:00 UTC (the early US data), at 13:00 (the US data and the start of the overlap) or at 14:00 (the US stock market open in summer time). The last column says how much bigger the busiest hour is than the hour before the data window.
The effect of daylight saving
The United States changes its clocks on different dates from Europe, so the same release is at 13:30 UTC in some weeks and at 12:30 UTC in others. Averages over 60 days mix both, so the step is spread over two hours.
How to check this in Currenlyzer
- Open the scanner. It lists every symbol with its reading for the current hour: Busy, Normal or Quiet.
- Sort by the busiest now or by the usual range, and filter by currency.
- Click a symbol to open its analyzer, where the hours of every weekday and the number of days counted are shown.
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 the US session start?
About 13:00 UTC in our session definition; the stock market opens at 13:30 or 14:30 UTC depending on daylight saving time.
Which hour is the busiest?
See the table, for each pair.
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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.