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The breadth, depth, and liquidity of the
market are truly impressive. It has been estimated
that the world's most active exchange rates
like EURUSD and USDJPY can change up to 18,000
times during a single day.
Somewhere on the planet, financial centers
are open for business, and banks and other
institutions are trading the dollar and other
currencies, every hour of the day and night,
aside from possible minor gaps on weekends.
In financial centers around the world, business
hours overlap; as some centers close, others
open and begin to trade.
The foreign exchange market follows the sun
around the earth. Each business day arrives
first in the Asia-Pacific financial centers;
first Wellington, New Zealand, then Sydney,
Australia, followed by Tokyo, Hong Kong, and
Singapore. A few hours later, while markets
remain active in those Asian centers, trading
begins in Bahrain and elsewhere in the Middle
East. Later still, when it is late in the
business day in Tokyo, markets in Europe open
for business. Subsequently, when it is early
afternoon in Europe, trading in New York and
other U.S. centers starts. Finally, completing
the circle, when it is middle or late afternoon
in the United States, the next day has arrived
in the Asia-Pacific area, the first markets
there have opened, and the process begins
again.
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