There's no single best time: it depends on what you trade and how you trade. What does change through the day is how much prices move.
Currency pairs, gold and silver
Activity follows the world's main trading sessions (times in UTC, with Japan time in brackets):
| Session | Hours | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | 0:00–6:00 (9:00–15:00) | Steady; yen pairs are most active |
| London | 8:00–16:00 (17:00–1:00) | Busier, bigger moves on euro and pound pairs |
| New York | 13:00–21:00 (22:00–6:00) | Busiest while it overlaps with London, 13:00–16:00 (22:00–1:00) |
Outside the sessions, late in the New York afternoon and before Tokyo opens, markets are quieter and prices move less. Scheduled economic news, such as US employment figures, can cause sharp moves at any time of day.
Crypto and synthetic indices
Crypto trades around the clock and tends to be busiest when the US market is open. Synthetic indices are built to move with the same volatility at any hour, so the time of day makes no difference.
Remember the trading hours
Short expiries on currency pairs are available from 23:00 to 20:00 UTC (8:00 to 5:00 Japan time), and currency pairs take no new trades in the last 15 minutes of the day. See Trading hours.
Related: Trading hours · Assets you can trade · What are the risks of trading?