Believe it or not, the Forex (currency) market never closes. It's a 24-hour market that's open 7 days a week. However, retail traders like you and I can only trade the hours between Sunday at 5 pm EST and Friday at 5 pm EST.
And traders can still trade on the weekend. The major stock exchanges are closed, but they can still do over-the-counter trades with each other. Some options brokers even offer after-hours trades as an added service. So even though the volume for options trading is lower, this does not mean that it is nonexistent.
Forex is legal in South Africa as long as it does not contravene money laundering laws, and traders must declare any profits to SARS (South African Revenue Service).
Unlike stock markets, Bitcoin is open 24X7. The reason being stock markets are specific to the country they operate in and usually reflect the working hours of that country. Anyone can purchase bitcoin on most of the exchanges. There are hundreds of exchanges around the world that operate 24/7. !
European Forex Session (London)
| Session | Major Market | Hours (GMT) |
|---|
| Asian Session | Tokyo | 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. |
| European Session | London | 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| North American Session | New York | noon to 8 p.m. |
You can't close while the Market is closed unless your Broker offers that as a special feature of their service . . . Buys close at Bid, Sells close at Ask, there is no current Bid and Ask just the last values from Friday and they will not be valid once the markets open.
A “fact” commonly repeated by stock market pundits is the idea that traders should be wary of holding positions over the weekend. As the idea goes, a lot can happen from Friday's close until Monday's open and with markets closed, traders will be unable to react.
Does the FTSE trade on Saturday and Sunday? You can trade the FTSE 100 on a Saturday and Sunday with IG – the only UK provider to offer this market on the weekend. IG clients also have access to a number of other exclusive indices including Wall Street, Germany 30 and HS50.
Why Trade Crude Oil? Crude oil is the world economy's primary energy source, making it a very popular commodity to trade. WTI trades on CME Globex: Sunday - Friday, 6:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. (with an hour break from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m each day) while Brent trades on ICE: Sunday - Friday - 7:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Two reasons for the status quoOne reason is that many money managers don't work on Saturdays and Sundays. Without those managers taking the other side of trades, the market tends to be less liquid. A less liquid market tends to be more volatile. It also tends to have wider spreads between bid and ask.
Nasdaq's pre-market operations let investors start trading at 4 a.m. Eastern time. Electronic communication networks (ECNs) enable investors to trade stocks during aftermarket hours between 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
After-hours trading takes place after the markets have closed. Post-market trading usually takes place between 4:00 p.m. and 8.00 p.m., while the pre-market trading session ends at 9:30 a.m. After-hours trading allows investors to react immediately to breaking news and is much more convenient.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is to present the Budget on February 1. In a circular, BSE said the stock markets would open for trading on February 1, Saturday, on account of Union Budget for the financial year 2020-21. Trading would be conducted during normal hours from 9 am to 3.30 pm.
Gold market trading hoursSunday to Friday, 5:00 p.m. – 4.
Weekend Wall Street is accurate in regards to action occurring for the few folks who use that site to speculate over the weekend.
