When does forex move? EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY and AUD/USD volatility by hour and session (2024–2026)

Why timing matters in forex

The foreign exchange market is the largest financial market in the world, and it trades almost 24 hours a day from Sunday evening to Friday evening. That does not mean every hour is the same. Liquidity and volatility rise and fall as the big financial centres – Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York – open and close, and as economic data is released.

For anyone who trades or hedges currencies, timing affects how far prices can move, how wide spreads are and when stop orders are most likely to be hit. We measured the pattern directly with hourly prices for the four most traded pairs against the US dollar, from January 2024 to November 2026.

How we measured it

For each hour, we calculated the absolute percentage change in the exchange rate, in basis points (1 bp = 0.01%). We then averaged those moves for each hour of the day, using New York time because US data releases and the New York close anchor the FX day. We also grouped the hours into five sessions and measured each session's share of total price movement.

The hourly rhythm

The chart shows a clear daily pattern that is almost the same for every pair:

• Late evening to early morning (New York time): a moderate Asian session, busier for USD/JPY and AUD/USD, with a rise around 7–9 pm when Tokyo and Sydney start trading.
• 3–5 am: the London open brings a jump in activity, especially in EUR/USD and GBP/USD.
• 8–9 am: the peak. Most US data – jobs, inflation, retail sales, GDP – is published at 8:30 am. EUR/USD moves an average of 10.3 bp in this hour, compared with 5.5 bp across all hours.
• 10–11 am: a second peak, when more US data comes out and the London 4 pm fix approaches (11 am New York time).
• Afternoon: activity fades after London closes.
• 5–6 pm: the quietest hour of the day (1.9 bp in EUR/USD), around the New York close and the daily rollover. Spreads are often widest here.

Sessions: the overlap is where it happens

The four hours when London and New York overlap (8 am – noon New York time) are just 17% of the trading week but contain 39% of EUR/USD's movement and 38% of GBP/USD's. Adding the London morning, almost two-thirds of the day's movement in the two European pairs happens between 3 am and noon New York time.

USD/JPY and AUD/USD look different. For them the Asian session carries a much larger share – 33% for USD/JPY and 28% for AUD/USD – because the Bank of Japan, the Reserve Bank of Australia and Asian investors are most active then.

Jobs-report Fridays

The US employment report (non-farm payrolls) is usually released at 8:30 am on the first Friday of the month. Its effect is visible in the data: between 8 and 9 am on those Fridays, EUR/USD moved an average of 24.9 bp, against 9.0 bp in the same hour on other Fridays and 5.5 bp in an average hour. That one hour can be worth more than a whole quiet day.

How big are the moves overall?

Measured as annual volatility, EUR/USD moved about 6.2% in 2024, 7.9% in 2025 and 5.7% so far in 2026. GBP/USD was similar; USD/JPY (7.7–10.6%) and AUD/USD (8.7–9.8%) were more volatile. That is a fraction of the volatility of stocks or crypto – but most FX trading uses leverage, which is why the timing of moves matters.

Bitcoin keeps US stock-market hours

We compared the forex pattern with Bitcoin's on weekdays, scaling each market to its own daily average. The difference is striking. Forex peaks at 8–9 am New York time, around the data releases. Bitcoin's busiest hours come later, 9–11 am, right after the US stock market opens at 9:30, when it moves up to 1.9 times its daily average. Bitcoin is also relatively quiet in the London morning, when FX is busy. In 2024–2026, with spot Bitcoin ETFs trading on US exchanges, Bitcoin's daily rhythm has been set more by Wall Street than by the global currency market.

What this means

1. The major currency pairs move most between 8 am and noon New York time, when London and New York overlap – especially in the 8–9 am data hour.
2. The 5–6 pm hour around the New York close is the quietest of the day.
3. Yen and Australian-dollar pairs are much more active in Asian hours than the euro and the pound.
4. Bitcoin's busiest hours on weekdays follow the US stock market, not the forex clock.

For live EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY levels and volatility ranges, see our EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY pages.