Trading has become one of the most popular activities in the past years. No wonder, as it is one of the most profitable methods of earning money and more people are engaging in the following system.
There is a persistent stereotype among novice traders that trading on the weekend is impossible in all financial markets, although in reality, the situation is not that simple. Some exchanges are actually closed on Saturday and Sunday, but at the same time, others are open on these days. There are also those that operate 24/7.
But in most cases, for some reason, stock and currency exchanges do not work on Saturday and Sunday. Let’s take a closer look at this topic.
Why doesn’t the Forex market work on weekends?
Forex is a market where over $4 trillion is circulating during a day. It is one of the most profitable markets compared to other ones. An interesting fact is that Forex does not work on weekends. There are two reasons for this:
- Human factor;
- Liquidity.
Unlike trading robots and computers, it is customary for people to relax on weekends, devoting their free time to their family or their favorite hobby. No matter how perfect the automated systems are, they still should not remain without human control, otherwise, it might cause some serious consequences.
There are practically no interbank transactions from 01:00 Saturday to 01:00 Monday, and the largest providers of quotations, such as Reuters and Bloomberg, do not carry out their activities during this period, which is why it is commonly believed that world markets freeze on weekends.
Formally, no one bothers to trade currencies on weekends. Most banks and exchanges do not work during this period, therefore, due to the small number of counterparties on financial markets, liquidity drops dramatically and almost all brokers aren’t able to provide their services these days.
However, there are always exceptions to any rule, some dealers allow transactions from Saturday to Monday, but, as a rule, these are either “kitchens” simulating the movement of quotes on their internal servers, or trading conditions are extremely unfavorable due to exorbitant spreads and commissions.
As a result, even those companies that allow trading on an over-the-counter basis (Over The Counter or OTC) cannot provide clients to trade due to the fact that quotes do not move, because banking operations are not carried out.
Is the stock market open on weekends?
We figured it out with Forex, but why do the stock exchanges not work at night and on weekends, and is this even so? The answer is yes and no.
Unlike Forex, where trading takes place day and night from Monday to Friday due to the difference in time zones, trading in the stock market is completely tied to specific trading platforms, each of which has a fixed working time.
Securities are listed only on a specific site, if it is closed, then trading in this instrument will be unavailable. Most of the world’s exchanges trade only during business hours on weekdays, but not all.
Which exchanges are open on weekends? These are mainly the sites of Israel and the Islamic countries of the Middle East, the largest of which are:
- TASE (Tel Aviv Stock Exchange)
- DSE (Dubai Stock Exchange)
- KSE (Kuwait Stock Exchange)
- Tadawul (Saudi Stock Exchange)
- QE (Qatar Stock Exchange, aka Doha Securities Exchange)
- MSM (Muscat Securities Market (Oman Stock Exchange)
Is it possible to trade cryptocurrency on weekends?
It is not only possible, but also necessary, since almost all sites that provide the opportunity to trade cryptocurrencies operate 24/7 without weekends and holidays, but even on these markets, trading is uneven – the greatest activity is observed in the Asian and American sessions when China is trading and the USA.
How to Trade Forex 24 Hours?
You can trade Forex 24 hours a day, five days a week, and participation in trading is not affected by the time difference with the head office. This is possible thanks to global financial centers led by national and international banks that manage capital from all over the world.
In the technical analysis of Forex trading, a trader correctly evaluates and analyzes various types of charts (bars, candles, lines) of currency pairs and patterns displayed on them. The result of its activity is the forecast of changes in the exchange rates of currency pairs. A trader deals with medium-term deals, opening his deals for a long period (one to two days, one to two months). With this operation, you can make a big profit if you open it for at least a few days. Good capital is required to run such a business.
Day (intraday, short-term) trading is a trade in which trades are opened for a short period of time, from one to two minutes to several hours. These trades usually close on the same trading day and never roll over to the next day.
The difference between Bid and Ask is called the spread (this is the broker’s main source of income), and the minimum allowable price change is called a pip. Exchange rate information is available to the Forex trader for free. There are several ways to trade Forex. Each one has a specific trading strategy. The seasoned Forex trader has followed his strategy for years, but there are also a number of proven strategies that you should be aware of.
To open a Forex trading position, you need to send a request to the broker to buy a certain amount of one currency for a certain amount of another. In this case, the price of the base currency, which comes first in the pair, is called the quote, expressed in quoted units. A quote consists of two numbers: the supply, at which the base currency is sold for the quoted one, and the demand, at which, accordingly, it is bought. The Forex transaction takes place in two stages. On the first, a position is opened for a certain currency pair.
