How the forex market works

Unlike a stock exchange, forex has no single building and no central exchange. It is an over-the-counter (OTC) network: banks, brokers, funds and traders quoting prices to each other electronically around the clock.

The market opens Monday morning in Sydney and closes Friday evening in New York. As one financial centre goes to sleep another wakes up, so there is always somewhere quoting a price. Crypto is the exception — it never closes, not even at weekends.

• Sydney / Tokyo (Asian session): quieter ranges. AUD, NZD and JPY pairs are most active.
• London: the largest session by volume. EUR and GBP pairs get their biggest moves here.
• London–New York overlap (roughly 13:00–17:00 UTC): the busiest and most liquid window of the day.
• New York: US data releases land here, so USD pairs, gold and indices can move sharply.

Because there is no single exchange, your broker's price may differ by a fraction from another's. This is normal. What matters for you is the spread — the gap between the buy (ask) and sell (bid) price — because that is the cost you pay to enter a trade.