Can You Trade Forex on Weekends? Should You Do It?

Many people have asked me this question over the years – “can you trade forex on weekends?”

Weekend trading has grown in popularity over the last few years, with many people choosing to trade currencies on Saturday and Sunday instead of working days.

This article provides advice on whether you should trade weekends and if so, when.

Can You Trade Forex on Weekends?

This is a straightforward answer.

Technically yes.

Is it advisable? Not really for 99% of the time. Even if you are a forex god.

Most markets are closed but some do remain trading out of hours. Although, over the weekend, you do not have direct access to these markets.

Instead, you are taking trades directly with your broker.

Most commonly traded assets over the weekend are indices and cryptocurrencies.

Forex trading is usually limited to GBP/USD, EUR/USD and USD/JPY by the brokers.

What Is Weekend Trading?

Weekend trading is done differently compared to weekday trading.

Firstly, the assets offered by the broker for weekend trading are based on the broker’s view of how the markets would react over the weekend.

So realistically, you are trading an asset that is based on another person’s assumptions.

These assets are even quoted individually.

However, if you were to place a trade on an index on a Saturday, this will then be rolled into regular indices based on the weekday price if they are kept open after Sunday’s close.

Basically, your weekend contract on the DAX40 will then become a regular DAX40 contract if you keep it open over the weekend.

Most traders that take advantage of weekend trading do so to either hedge a position they made during the week OR when they expect a high impact news announcement to come out over the weekend.

Although the weekend is a great time to take a break and enjoy some family time, it is also the time when cryptocurrency prices tend to move the most.

This is because there are fewer traders and fewer orders being placed, and so the market is more volatile.

Why Trade on Weekends? 

The only reason why you would really look to trade over the weekend is if you were to expect big news to come out over the weekend. Although, this is unlikely.

Or if you want to trade crypto markets, which are open 24/7.

Why You Shouldn’t Trade on Weekends

Personally, I don’t open my terminal over the weekend with the intention to trade.

I’d also recommend not to trade over the weekend because of the following reasons:

Larger spreads

Brokers that offer weekend trading to their clients also charge much wider spreads than weekday spreads.

This alone will put you in the negative – for example, a EURUSD spread could be 4+ pips. Is it really worth trading?

Less liquidity

Barely any true trading activity goes on during the weekend that the retail market gets access to, so your trades won’t be moving up or down as quickly as they would during the weekday.

Limited markets

Due to the nature of weekend trading, brokers that offer this provide limited markets so they can manage their risk easier. After all, the brokers also have limited staff on over the weekend too!

Limited brokers offer it

Because the demand for weekend trading is low, not many brokers offer this. I’d certainly not open an account with a broker just because it has weekend trading available.

How Should I Use The Weekend To Trade?

If you are obsessed with the markets like a true pro is, then you want to be loading up your terminal to review your key trading levels such as supply and demand levels at a weekly and daily view – as well as cleaning up your charts.

You want to prep the week ahead with key trading data that will come out and you want to re-evaluate your trading bias by reviewing the Commitment of Traders Report.

These snippets will help you build a strong foundation for trading success.

Conclusion

There you have it – “Can you trade forex on weekends”?

Yes, you can trade forex on weekends. But you shouldn’t.

It’s not a good idea to trade forex on weekends because of the lack of liquidity, widened spreads, and volume.

I’m sure you want to improve your trading, so you can learn how to profit from the markets for long term growth.

So check out some of the articles below to learn more for free.

Click here to find related articles >>

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About the author

Seasoned forex trader John Henry teaches new traders key concepts like divergence, mean reversion, and price action for free, sharing over a decade of market experience and analysis expertise in a clear, practical style.