What time do the trading markets close and open? Do cryptocurrency markets have opening hours?
It is a common belief that cryptocurrency markets have specific opening hours. However, cryptocurrency trading is not limited to a fixed schedule, unlike traditional stock exchanges and securities markets.
This was not always that way, though: in the early years of bitcoin’s introduction to trading venues, transactions could only be made 5 days a week. As more exchanges began to implement bitcoin and other crypto assets into their quotation lists, it became possible to trade them around the clock. Despite 24-hour access to cryptocurrency trades, it still makes sense to know the trading hours of the world’s major exchanges.
Major trading sessions
Periods of trading activity on the world’s major exchanges are conventionally divided into three sessions: Asian, European, and North American. These are sometimes called the “Tokyo”, “London”, and “New York” sessions because the three cities represent the major financial centers of each region.
How do trading sessions affect the price?
Round-the-clock access to the cryptocurrency market does not mean there are no more optimal days or periods to trade on them, as the number of traders and the overall level of liquidity (number of sell or buy orders) in the markets can vary.
Cryptocurrency markets are always open, but the amount of liquidity in them is determined by the activity of traders. The better the liquidity, the fewer opportunities for manipulation by certain market participants and price slippage (when a trade is performed at a price that is not worse than the one specified in the order).
How do I know what trading session is on?
For many private traders, the main tool for market analysis is the TradingView service, which provides an indicator that visualizes the time of the main trading sessions.
Chart with an indicator of trading sessions (FX Session)
Why is it better not to trade on weekends?
Algorithmic trading robots and market makers (liquidity providers) come into action during weekends. The market becomes more unpredictable and subject to manipulation.
Knowing this, the big players will push the market to cause false movements, breakdowns of levels, etc. That’s why many traders refuse to trade on weekends. Very often, you can see that if the price of a crypto asset rises over the weekend, on the first business day, many will expect liquidation of their positions and, consequently, significant losses.
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