Ideal Market Timings For South African Traders Vis-à-vis World Forex Markets

The world boasts of four major Forex locations, which are in New York, London, Tokyo and Sydney, which makes the forex industry a 24x5 market. This means trading happens only over weekdays but is on for 24 hours on those days. This further means that traders can trade any time of the day from anywhere and everywhere, which literally means that Forex has turned into an OTC (Over-The-Counter) Market for interested parties everywhere. However, it also makes it difficult for the investors, clients or trading agencies to keep track of the timings of various trading centers, banks, brokers, or market players. Understanding different times of trading in different locations is also necessary for conglomerates to devise apt trading strategies.

In this regard, here are the working hours of the Forex Market in South Africa, for those interested in doing business here –

To start with, Forex trading hours mean times during which investors can place the Open and Close positions to exchange currencies. These hours are also the timings during which banks, investors as well as companies operate. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) works from Monday to Friday, daily between 9 AM to 5 PM (according to South African Standard Time (GMT +02:00)). The JSE doesn’t have after-hours trading or pre-market trading.  For South Africa, the Forex Market works between 9 am and 5 pm. During any major Forex trading session, the traders based in South Africa can trade currency pairs. The trading starts in New Zealand and closes in the US. In between, you have trading going on for various durations in various locations across the world. Here is a list of the major trading sessions across the globe, given in South African local time –

• Sydney – 11PM to 7AM
• Tokyo (Asia) – 1AM to 9AM
• London (Europe) – 9AM to 6PM
• New York – 2PM to 10PM

Best time to trade in South Africa

Since different markets open on different times of weekdays, it is important to create a timetable. For that you need to know why the best trading times in South Africa get determined by the three major markets of the world – Asian, European and American. The best Forex trading hours in South Africa, therefore, are when the market is the most active everywhere. This brings us to the overlap between the market hours of the three main trading centers.

1. – 8AM to 10AM (SAST) is the best time to trade. The markets aren’t very volatile and traders get a chance with the high PIP fluctuation. South African traders would have a great time trading in USD/JPY.
2. – 9AM to 10AM is the ideal overlapping time when South African based trading could reel in higher profits.
3. – 2PM to 7 PM is, perhaps, the busiest trading duration in the South African Forex market, not the least because the US Dollar and the Euro are two of the most popular currencies for trading. It isn’t, thus, surprising to know that more than 70% of trades take place during these hours. 

Other than weekends, the JSE is closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Depending upon the currency pair you want to trade in, it is always better to trade accordingly. Your risk factors will also shift as per the market hours you choose.

Disclaimer: No Asian Age journalist was involved in creating this content. The group also takes no responsibility for this content.