Forex Network New York 2010 - How Can You Trade 24 Hours a Day?

One of the greatest benefits of the foreign exchange is that you can trade it 24 hours day. This means that no matter when you work, whether you have your evenings free or not, or if the only time you can trade is from 2AM - 5AM in the morning, you can still trade the currency markets. Forex Network New York 2010

But how can you trade the forex 24 hours a day when other trading markets don't allow this?

The foreign exchange is a network of computer systems linked together from all over the world. When banks open for business, they join the network (kind of like how you get on the Internet), and their bid and ask prices are then part of the currency market. This computer system sees the bid and ask prices from all over the world, combines them, and organizes them in a fashion that humans can understand.

When you see the currency prices moving, all you are seeing is different banks bid and ask prices.

Now these banks are located throughout the world. When the U.S. banks are open for business, most trades go through U.S. banks. By the time the U.S. banks close for the evening, the Asian banks are open and doing business. By the time the Asian banks close, the European banks are open. This is a continuous cycle that ends only on the weekends when all the banks are closed. Forex Network New York 2010

When you buy or sell through your broker, your broker simply routes your order to a bank on the network, and the order is filled at the price you requested. This order could have been filled in Japan, London, Sydney, or many other cities around the world. To you, it just doesn't matter. Your broker hides all of this for you because you really don't care who filled the order - you just want it filled.

The forex trading day is divided into trading sessions based on which area of the world is open for business hours during that time.

Here is a quick summary of the trading session times.

New York - 8AM - 5PM Eastern
Tokyo - 7PM - 4AM Eastern
London - 3AM - 12PM Eastern

Just remember, you can trade the foreign exchange 24 hours a day even if the country you are in is not "open for business." Forex Network New York 2010