With the forex market being the most liquid market in the world with a huge amount of trading volume, there are always positions to take, edges to exploit and traders that are looking to enter the markets. There are only so many trading hours in the week, which leads part time traders to look towards taking trades in the forex market on the weekends. However, is it actually possible to trade forex on weekends?
The forex market is shut on weekends, so it cannot be traded. Prices of currency pairs can still move, hence why there may be a gap in price on the market open on Sunday. Depending on where you are in the world, the forex markets are open from Sunday night, to Friday night each week and you will not be able to place any trades during the weekend.
Forex Trading On Weekends
The forex markets are closed on the weekends, so you cannot open any trades on the weekend. The price of currency can still fluctuate during the weekend and you will sometimes nice a gap in the price on market open, from the price of market close on the Friday night. However, no retail forex brokers allow traders to take positions on the weekends and most won’t even let you send pending orders to fill on Monday!
You can’t trade forex on the weekend, but you really want to. You want to further your skills, learn the ropes and gain experience in the most liquid market in the world. What can you do?
This is the beauty of trading simulators. A trading simulator will allow you to forward test live markets, using backtest data that comes to you in real time meaning you can actually test strategies and trading systems like you would in real markets. I have compiled a list of the best forex trading simulators here
, so definitely check that out! To save you the time, Forex Tester 5 is your best bet!
Why Would Trading On Weekends Not Work?
When it comes to trading, you need volume. Volume is the lifeblood of the financial markets. Without trading volume, you will be looking at consolidation, potentially volatile moves and for day traders it would be more or less impossible to actually have an edge in those conditions.
During the trading week, volumes for forex stay fairly high. During London session the volumes peak, tailing off into the US trading hours, with very little volume in the asian trading hours. Any trader will tell you that the best times to execute trades, for intra day traders, would be during the market opens and towards the end of sessions, when volume is lower, you would struggle to find an edge in the market. You can find out more about trading sessions here on Babypips.
If the markets were to be accessible to retail traders during the weekend you would find that large institutions and fund traders would most likely not be running at full capacity. Banks wouldn’t be moving as much currency and the overall market volume would be much lower. This leads to really tough trading conditions, higher spreads and less of an edge for us traders!
Are Any Trading Markets Open For Weekend Trading?
Now that we know you can’t trade forex on the weekends, is there anything you can trade? Well, I wouldn’t recommend it but the crypto markets are open on the weekend. I’d imagine volume is a lot lower but many brokers will allow you to trade crypto 7 days a week so if you’re itching to take a position in live markets, crypto is going to be your best bet.
For crypto trading I’d recommend still using a forex broker, based offshore that offers competitive spreads on pairs. I have personally used Hugosway in the past, but again, I don’t really recommend trading crypto at all on a day trading level.
In Conclusion – Can I Trade Forex On Weekends?
In summary, the forex market is closed on the weekend so it cannot be traded. Brokers will not allow retail forex traders to open any positions, until the market reopens on the Sunday night. Currency prices can still move during the weekend, so markets may open at a different price to the close price from the previous week. If you are holding trades open over the weekend, do be cautious about potential slippage.
