What and when currencies traded?

The most popular currencies along with their symbols are shown below:

Symbol         Country             Currency     Nickname
USD             United States     Dollar          Buck
EUR             Euro members    Euro            Fiber
JPY              Japan                 Yen             Yen
GBP             Great Britain      Pound         Cable
CHF             Switzerland        Franc          Swissy
CAD            Canada               Dollar           Loonie
AUD            Australia             Dollar          Aussie
NZD            New Zealand       Dollar          Kiwi

Forex currency symbols are always three letters, where the first two letters identify the name of the country and the third letter identifies the name of that country’s currency.

Forex market is open 24-hours a day. At any time, somewhere around the world a financial center is open for business, and banks and other institutions exchange currencies every hour of the day and night with generally only minor gaps on the weekend.

The foreign exchange markets follow the sun around the world, so you can trade late at night or in the morning.

Time Zone             New York     GMT
Tokyo Open           7:00 pm        0:00
Tokyo Close           4:00 am        9:00
London Open          3:00 am       8:00
London Close        12:00 pm     17:00
New York Open     8:00 am      13:00
New York Close     5:00 pm      22:00

The Forex OTC market is by far the biggest and most popular financial market in the world, traded globally by a large number of individuals and organizations. In the OTC market, participants determine who they want to trade with depending on trading conditions, attractiveness of prices and reputation of the trading counterpart. The dollar is the most traded currency, being on one side of 86% of all transactions. The euro’s share is second at 37%, while that of the yen is third at 16.5%.