One subject
Market hours
17 lessons, 26 glossary terms and 39 market guides cover this across the academy. Each one links to its own page, and nothing is repeated here.
Trading involves risk. You could lose more than your deposit.
The curriculum
17 lessons cover this.
In curriculum order, which is the order you would meet them.
- What a currency pair isModule 01What you are actually trading7 min
- What an index CFD isModule 01What you are actually trading6 min
- What a shares CFD isModule 01What you are actually trading7 min
- How margin differs across the asset classesModule 03Margin and account mechanics7 min
- What a swap isModule 04What a trade actually costs10 min
- Who is actually in the marketModule 05The venue and your counterparty9 min
- What liquidity isModule 05The venue and your counterparty8 min
- What a trading session isModule 06When the market moves6 min
- The Tokyo sessionModule 06When the market moves6 min
- The London sessionModule 06When the market moves11 min
- The New York sessionModule 06When the market moves6 min
- Session overlaps and where liquidity concentratesModule 06When the market moves7 min
- GCC hours against London and New YorkModule 06When the market moves9 min
- The Sunday to Thursday working weekModule 06When the market moves7 min
- Rollover, holidays and thin marketsModule 06When the market moves8 min
- How to read the economic calendarModule 08Macro and the calendar14 min
- What the trading styles demandModule 09Risk, plan and practice9 min
The glossary
26 terms belong here.
Alphabetical, each defined in one sentence on its own page.
- Asset classA group of instruments sharing how they are priced, traded and settled, which is why costs, hours and specifications differ far more between two classes than within one.
- AuctionA trading mechanism that gathers orders over a window and matches them all at one price, used by exchanges to open and close a session rather than trade it continuously.
- Cash indexA cash index instrument tracks the current level of a stock index itself rather than a dated future, so it carries no expiry and attracts a daily financing adjustment instead.
- Close priceThe close price is the last price traded before a period ended, whether that period is a one minute bar, a daily session or an exchange's official closing auction.
- Day tradingOpening and closing positions within a single session so that none is carried overnight, which avoids financing adjustments and pays the spread more often.
- Daylight savingDaylight saving is the seasonal clock change some jurisdictions apply, which moves a trading session against every clock that did not change while leaving the session itself untouched.
- Earnings seasonEarnings season is the concentrated few weeks after each quarter ends in which most listed companies publish results, so scheduled single-share volatility clusters into a short window.
- Economic calendarAn economic calendar lists scheduled data releases, central bank decisions and official speeches with their exact release times, the previous reading and the consensus estimate for each.
- ExchangeAn exchange is a regulated venue that concentrates buying and selling interest in listed instruments into one order book, publishes the resulting prices, and applies the same rules to every participant.
- Expiry dateAn expiry date is the day a dated contract ceases to exist, on which any position still open is settled at a final price or rolled into the next contract month.
- Extended hoursExtended hours are the pre-market and post-market windows in which listed shares can still be dealt electronically, outside the exchange's main continuous session.
- Foreign exchangeThe market in which one currency is bought with another, quoted in pairs and dealt over the counter across a global network of banks and brokers rather than on a central exchange.
- Futures contractA standardised, exchange traded agreement to buy or sell a set quantity of an asset on a stated date, margined daily and cleared through a house that stands between both sides.
- Gulf Standard TimeGulf Standard Time is the fixed offset ahead of Coordinated Universal Time used in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, and it has never shifted seasonally.
- Index CFDAn index CFD is a contract settled in cash against the level of a stock index, so a position follows the index without any share, fund unit or futures contract changing hands.
- Opening auctionAn opening auction sets the first official price of an exchange session by collecting orders during a call period and matching them all at the single price that trades the largest volume.
- Opening priceThe opening price is the first price of an interval, whether that interval is a bar on a chart or an exchange session whose open is struck in an auction.
- Overnight positionAn overnight position is any position still open when the trading day rolls at the provider's cut off, which is the moment financing is applied and the settlement date moves forward.
- Quarterly earningsQuarterly earnings are a listed company's three monthly report of revenue, profit and guidance, released on a scheduled date that is routinely the most volatile session in that share's quarter.
- SettlementSettlement is the moment the obligations created by a trade are discharged, when cash and title actually change hands, or, for a cash settled contract, when the difference is paid.
- Soft commoditySoft commodities are the grown agricultural markets, among them coffee, cocoa, sugar, cotton and the grains, as distinct from the hard commodities that are mined or drilled.
- Spot priceThe spot price is the price for immediate delivery, settled on the market's standard short value date, as distinct from a price agreed today for delivery on some later date.
- Thin marketA thin market has few participants and little resting size at each price, so quoted spreads widen, ordinary orders move the price further than usual, and gaps open more readily.
- Trading sessionA trading session is the stretch of hours during which a market is active, either an exchange's published hours or, in foreign exchange, one of the regional windows the day is conventionally divided into.
- Underlying assetThe underlying asset is the market a derivative takes its price from, the currency pair, index, commodity, share or fund whose movement decides the contract's result without ever being delivered.
- Value dateThe value date is the day a foreign exchange trade actually settles, conventionally two business days after dealing, and the date an open position is rolled forward to each night.
The market guides
39 guides answer a question about it.
Standalone reference answers, entered laterally rather than worked through.
- The forex marketMarketsWhat the currency market is, who deals in it, how a pair is quoted, and how a CFD on one settles.
- Major currency pairsMarketsWhich pairs the market treats as majors, what each is sensitive to, and how their liquidity behaves.
- Minor currency pairsMarketsHow the market uses the term minor, and where the label overlaps with crosses and exotics.
- Exotic currency pairsMarketsHow the market uses the term, why depth and financing differ here, and what the pegged Gulf pairs share.
- Currency crossesMarketsWhat defines a cross, how its rate is derived from two dollar pairs, and why it can move on its own.
- Index CFDsMarketsWhat the index market is, which contracts sit in the class, and how a CFD on a level is settled.
- US indicesMarketsWall Street 30, US 500, US Tech 100 and US Small Cap 2000: coverage, weighting and trading hours.
- European indicesMarketsGermany 40, UK 100, France 40 and Euro 50 compared: what dominates each list and when they trade.
- Asia Pacific indicesMarketsJapan 225, Hong Kong 50, China A50, Australia 200 and their peers: concentration, sessions and currency.
- Emerging market indicesMarketsHow a market comes to be classified as emerging, and the properties that separate these contracts.
- How the commodities and metals market worksMarketsThe four families the class divides into, who trades them, and the inventory arithmetic that sets prices.
- How the gold market worksMarketsThe London and New York venues that set the reference price, who holds gold, and what reprices it.
- How the silver market worksMarketsSilver's split monetary and industrial demand, the venues that price it, and why it moves more than gold.
- How the platinum and palladium market worksMarketsThe autocatalyst demand that dominates them, their concentrated supply base, and the substitution link.
- How the crude oil market works: Brent and WTIMarketsWhat Brent and WTI each specify, why two benchmarks exist, and what their differential measures.
- How the natural gas market worksMarketsWhy regional gas prices diverge, the injection and withdrawal cycle, and what the storage report shows.
- How refined energy products tradeMarketsWhat gasoline, heating oil and ethanol specify, and the crack spread that expresses a refining margin.
- How the industrial metals market worksMarketsWhat copper, aluminium, zinc and nickel are used for, and the exchange system that prices them.
- How the agricultural softs market worksMarketsWhich crops the category covers, why perennial cycles make supply unresponsive, and what reprices them.
- How the grains market worksMarketsThe planting and harvest calendar, the acreage competition between crops, and what moves them.
- Shares CFDsMarketsWhat the underlying is, which venue sets the price, what moves it, and how the contract settles in cash.
- US sharesMarketsThe venues, the session structure, the reporting calendar and the settlement conventions for US shares.
- European and UK sharesMarketsHow the London, Frankfurt, Paris and other European venues run their day, and what currency each quotes.
- Asia Pacific sharesMarketsThe Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, Mumbai and Sydney venues, their sessions and their daily limits.
- Exchange traded funds as a CFD marketMarketsWhat an exchange traded fund is, how its price relates to its holdings, and what a CFD on one settles.
- Regional and emerging market ETFsMarketsThe two components of a country fund's return, and why it trades while the market it holds is closed.
- How the economic calendar worksEventsWhat sits on the calendar, who publishes each item, and how its three number columns are built.
- Euro area PMI and the flash release sequenceEventsHow the survey family is structured, the order the flash readings arrive in, and the limits of a survey.
- The Bank of Japan decision and its unscheduled release timeEventsHow the Policy Board votes, the instruments beyond a single rate, and why the release time is unscheduled.
- The RBA and RBNZ decisionsEventsHow the two antipodean central banks are structured, and the rate track that only one of them publishes.
- Index rebalancing and review datesEventsHow committees decide constituents and weights, and why the close on a review date carries unusual volume.
- Market hours and the trading dayMechanicsWhere a trading day starts and stops, and what a session break changes about orders and positions.
- Rollover and the daily cutMechanicsWhat happens to an open position at the daily boundary, and why spreads widen around that moment.
- Gulf trading hours against London and New YorkStructureWhere the Asian, European and American sessions land on a Gulf clock, and why the local hour shifts.
- The Gulf working week against the global market weekStructureHow the regional business week, the exchange week and the global market week fall out of step.
- Gulf equity markets and index inclusionStructureThe Gulf exchanges, the criteria index providers assess, and what a reclassification mechanically does.
- Ramadan and Eid market hoursStructureHow the lunar calendar moves the shortened month and its holidays, and what accrues while desks are shut.
- Gulf public holidays and thin liquidityStructureThe two kinds of Gulf holiday, which closures reduce global liquidity, and what a thin book does.
- Trading dollar denominated markets from the GulfStructureWhy the account currency question resolves differently in the Gulf, and where a conversion still appears.
Get started
Open your account in four steps.
A clear path from sign-up to your first trade, in four steps.
No depositNo documents
01/ 04step 1 of 4
Register
A few details to get started.
No deposit to open
02/ 04step 2 of 4
Verify
Confirm your identity, securely.
ID and proof of address
03/ 04step 3 of 4
Fund
Add money by bank transfer or card.
From $0
04/ 04step 4 of 4
Trade
Go live on the platform you already know.
MetaTrader 5
