Forex Session Volatility, Measured
Average hourly range by session
| Session | UTC band | GBPUSD | EURUSD | USDJPY | GBPJPY | XAUUSD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asian | 00:00–07:00 | 13.4 | 10.3 | 21.6 | 27.1 | 68.4 |
| London | 07:00–12:00 | 23.1 | 17.2 | 22.7 | 36.1 | 71.6 |
| London/New York overlap | 12:00–16:00 | 29.3 | 23.1 | 31.6 | 40.6 | 118.5 |
| New York | 16:00–21:00 | 16.2 | 12.7 | 16.8 | 23.3 | 68.3 |
| Late / rollover | 21:00–00:00 | 10.3 | 7.4 | 15.4 | 22.7 | 58.5 |
Every instrument peaks in the overlap and troughs in the Asian band. The ordering is identical across all five, which is the useful part — it is a property of when volume arrives, not of any one market.
Why the bands are UTC and not local
London and New York both observe daylight saving, and they do not change on the same date. Candle timestamps do not move at all. A session described as "8am London" refers to two different UTC hours depending on the month, so any table that mixes them is wrong for part of the year. Fixed UTC bands are stated here instead, and the reader can shift them.
Choosing a session to test in
The decision that matters is not which session is best but whether the backtest was run in the session the strategy will trade. A rule tested across all twenty-four hours has most of its sample drawn from hours it will never see, and its results are an average of conditions that do not apply.
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Test the finding on the chart—not just on the page
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Questions
Which forex session is most volatile?
The London/New York overlap, 12:00–16:00 UTC. On GBP/USD it averages 29.3 pips an hour against 13.4 in the Asian session.
Is the London session or New York session better?
London edges New York on the instruments measured here — 23.1 pips an hour against 16.2 on GBP/USD — but both are dwarfed by the four hours where they overlap.
What are the forex session times in UTC?
As used on this page: Asian 00:00–07:00, London 07:00–12:00, overlap 12:00–16:00, New York 16:00–21:00, rollover 21:00–00:00. These are fixed UTC bands; local session times shift with daylight saving and these do not.
Does the Asian session ever move?
Less, but not never. GBP/USD still averages 13.4 pips an hour there, and JPY crosses are relatively more active in it than the European pairs are.