All instruments · By hour

Forex Volatility by Hour of Day

14 of the 15 instruments measured peak in the same hour — 14:00–15:00 UTC, the London and New York overlap. The table below shows the shape of the day for five instruments side by side, from 28,075,555 one-minute candles.

14:00peak hour for 14/15

30.8GBP/USD at peak (pips)

10GBP/USD at trough

3.1×loudest vs quietest hour

A caution about comparing these directly. Pips and index points are different units. Gold's 361.6 is measured in 0.1 increments and the Dow's 446.4 in index points; neither is comparable to EUR/GBP's 40 pips as a raw number. Ranking is meaningful within a unit family — the nine FX majors and crosses against each other — and misleading across them. Every figure below states its unit for that reason.

Five instruments, hour by hour

Each column is that instrument's own unit. Read down a column to see the shape of its day; do not read across a row expecting the numbers to be comparable.

Hour (UTC)	Session	GBPUSD	EURUSD	USDJPY	GBPJPY	XAUUSD
00:00–01:00 UTC	Asian	14.5	11.7	28.8	33.7	68.3
01:00–02:00 UTC	Asian	14.8	11.7	25.2	30.4	95.3
02:00–03:00 UTC	Asian	12.2	9.7	20.2	24.7	70.8
03:00–04:00 UTC	Asian	10.5	8.2	18.1	22.5	55.8
04:00–05:00 UTC	Asian	10	7.6	17.3	21.7	45.4
05:00–06:00 UTC	Asian	12.3	9.4	18.5	23.8	69
06:00–07:00 UTC	Asian	19.2	13.9	23.4	32.7	74
07:00–08:00 UTC	London	24.9	19.3	27.2	40.8	76.1
08:00–09:00 UTC	London	24.8	19	25.7	40.3	76.3
09:00–10:00 UTC	London	22.5	16.7	21.6	35.2	68.3
10:00–11:00 UTC	London	21.1	15	18.9	31.5	65.6
11:00–12:00 UTC	London	22	15.8	19.9	32.7	71.8
12:00–13:00 UTC	London/New York overlap	28.2	22.1	31.4	38.5	103.3
13:00–14:00 UTC	London/New York overlap	30.4	24.2	33.6	40.8	130.2
14:00–15:00 UTC	London/New York overlap	30.8	24.5	33.2	44.5	130.9
15:00–16:00 UTC	London/New York overlap	27.6	21.6	28	38.4	109.7
16:00–17:00 UTC	New York	20.7	16.1	20.2	29.2	84
17:00–18:00 UTC	New York	17.3	13.6	17.9	25.2	71.1
18:00–19:00 UTC	New York	17.2	13.7	17.6	23	69.3
19:00–20:00 UTC	New York	14.4	11.4	15.1	20.6	63.2
20:00–21:00 UTC	New York	11.2	8.8	13.2	18.6	54
21:00–22:00 UTC	Late New York / Asian open	10.4	6.9	11.9	21.2	50.5
22:00–23:00 UTC	Late New York / Asian open	10.4	7.5	15.4	23	62.4
23:00–00:00 UTC	Late New York / Asian open	10	7.9	18.9	24	62.7

The shape is the same everywhere

Different instruments, different units, one pattern: a quiet Asian stretch, a step up at the London open, a dip through London lunch, a peak in the overlap with New York, then decay into the close. That consistency is what makes the hour worth knowing — it is a property of when money is being moved, not of any one pair.

Where instruments differ is in how extreme the shape is. GBP/USD swings 3.1× between its loudest and quietest hour; EUR/USD 3.6×; gold 2.9×.

Why this matters for a backtest

A strategy tested across all hours is tested mostly in hours it will never trade. If entries only fire between 13:00 and 16:00 UTC, the sample that matters is the three hours, not the twenty-four — and a result averaged over the full day has been diluted by fifteen hours of conditions the rules never see.

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Questions

What time is forex most volatile?

14:00–15:00 UTC — the London and New York overlap. 14 of the 15 instruments measured here peak in that hour.

Is the Asian session really quieter?

Measurably. GBP/USD averages around 10–12 pips an hour through 02:00–05:00 UTC against 30.8 pips at the overlap peak.

Do all currency pairs peak at the same time?

Nearly. 14 of 15 share the same peak hour. USD/JPY peaks an hour earlier, at 13:00–14:00 UTC.

Are these hours adjusted for daylight saving?

No — they are fixed UTC. The candle timestamps are UTC and do not shift, so London and New York move relative to this table twice a year.

All 15 compared Most volatile pairs Weekend gaps Session data GBP/USD daily range Best hours for GBP/USD