The Best Time To Trade Forex In India


In forex trading, liquidity, volume and high quality trades are the keys to success. Trading during high volume times in the day will make trades more much likely to play out in your favour, with less random moves and consolidation. Knowing when the London, New York and Asian trading sessions open is incredibly important, to ensure you’re on the right side of the market. So, what is the best time to trade forex in India?

The best time to trade forex in India is 12:30pm IST, as this is when the London market opens. At 5:30pm IST, the New York market will open and there will be another flood of volume in the forex market. The Asian session starts at 5:30am IST, but the volume will not be enough to trade forex using price action.

What Time Should You Trade Forex, In India?

The forex market, unlike all other markets (besides cryptocurrency), is open 24 hours a day. This doesn’t mean that we should be trading forex for 24 hours per day, however. There are realistically only a few good hours in the markets everyday where there is actually enough trading volume to make price action trading styles worth doing.

Price actionOpens in a new tab.

Although institutional forex trading isn’t big in India, yet, traders in India can still trade the London, New York and Asian sessions throughout the day. This is very much recommended as you’ll be able to trade when the institutional players are trading, meaning there will be less price consolidation. If you’re unsure on timings and time zones, using a forex world mapOpens in a new tab.

Forex Trading SessionTime Of Open (IST)
London Session12:30pm IST
New York Session5:30pm IST
Asian Session5:30am IST
Pacific Session5:30am IST

Trading The London Session In India

For forex traders around the world, the London sessionOpens in a new tab.

This means that the best time to trade forex in India is 12:30pm IST. This is when the London forex markets open. You could also try to trade the pre London market volume spikes, which will happen around 11:30am IST as traders in the U.K are starting to get positions into the market ahead of the session open.

At 12:30pm IST you’ll notice that spreads on Major and Minor currency pairs all decrease massively and execution speed will increase. For traders that use over 100 lots per trade, you’ll also notice that positions are getting filled much faster and at better prices.

I have recently published an article breaking down the best forex pairs to trade during the London sessionOpens in a new tab.

Trading The New York Session In India

The second best forex session to trade is the New York trading sessionOpens in a new tab.

The US Trading session starts at 5:30pm IST, making this a great time to trade forex if you’re in India. The New York volatility tends to last for the first few hours of the session, until the London markets close for the day. I would recommend trading the first 3 hours of this session, until 8:30pm IST. I would observe how the markets are moving this far into the session to decide whether it’s worth taking a risk on the lower volatility.

I would recommend having a read of a recent article we published, diving into the best forex pairs to trade during the New York trading hoursOpens in a new tab.

Trading The Asian Session In India

The Asian trading sessionOpens in a new tab.

If you’re looking to try to maximise your exposure to the forex markets and be involved with every trading session then it may be worth trying to trade the Asian session on a relevant forex pair. This may be something involving JPY, AUD or NZD as the main currency involved. Personally, I have always tried to avoid trading forex during the Asian session just because there are plenty more opportunities throughout the day, when volume is much better.

As you can see in the screenshot above from TradingviewOpens in a new tab.

In Summary, When Is The Best Time For Indian Forex Traders To Trade?

In conclusion, the best time for forex trading in India is 12:30pm IST, due to the London markets opening. At 5:30pm IST the New York markets will open, which will provide low spreads, high volume and a lot of great trading opportunities.

If you have any questions or experience from forex trading in India, please do let me know in the comments down below!

Kyle Townsend

Kyle Townsend is the founder of Forex Broker Report, an experienced forex trader and an advocate for funding options for retail forex traders.

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