With markets closing over the festive period, different underlying assets will be available through different trading hours. In general, brokers will be taking trades in line with the market opening hours, but some may differ. Each have provided information on their own trading times, so if in doubt, check with your broker.
For the avoidance of doubt, all times listed are in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
Market Settlement
One element of festive trading hours to take account of, is where it affects the settlement time. This is particularly important in the forex markets, where traders are used to trading for 24 hours a day, through five days of the week.
Commodities also operate slightly differently over the festive period, with the markets closed longer than in other asset classes. Precious metals for example, will also be closed to trade on the 26th December, and the 2nd January – some other asset classes will be trading as normal on those days.
Binary.com Trading Hours
Binary.com have released specific guidance for their market closures. The key points again revolve around Forex, where there is no central trading centre. The times are also subject to change.
In general, Forex markets would settle at 23:59:59 each evening of the week, but 21:00:00 on Fridays. Over the holiday season, those times will change.
Opening hours for Gold trades:
Major and Minor Forex pairs will close early on December 23rd, at 18:00. Trading will be curtailed over the weekend of the 24th and 25th. Markets will again settle early the following Friday, at 18:00.
Indices will be closed for the bank holidays on the 26th and 27th of December. This will include the UK, Australian and Hong Kong indices. Others, such as Japanese or European markets, will return on the 27th.
Equities will follow the opening hours of the relevant stock exchange they are listed on. In general, they will follow the same periods of closure as the indexes themselves.
Commodities will close early for trading on the 23rd, and will stay closed on the 26th December – but resume trading on the 27th.
Binary.com will continue to offer the Volatility Index to traders over the festive period – but this is not based on any underlying asset nor any “real” volatility in any of the markets.
The firm have also noted that there might be some disruption to users of the MT5 platform on Christmas Day. With the bulk of global markets closed, this should not hinder too many traders.
All markets will be back to normal by the 4th January 2017.
Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year!
