Rust Never Sleeps, Neither Does Money in the Forex Market

Imagine a period when you could stay continuously awake for 24 hours in a given day. What would you be doing? Would you be indulging in your favorite pastime? Grabbing some much deserved and long-delayed "me time"? Or would you be doing your best to find ways to maximize the realization of your financial potentials?

If you are more inclined to choose the last option given, you would probably be highly interested in forex trading. No, you don't need to be a sleepless vampire to be an active participant in the 24-hour currency trading market. Far from it. All you need to do, is to understand how the market operates, and how you can make best use of forex hours.

To illustrate more clearly - in modern American culture, an album titled "Rust Never Sleeps" became highly popular in the late seventies, because it marked a clear defining moment in the shift of artistic direction taken by its creator, musician Neil Young, a demigod of the rock genre. The phrase "rust never sleeps" then became a rallying cry to denote vitality. It was a tribute to the need to keep on moving vigorously, never stagnating in one place, in order not to rust or become corroded, decayed.

If we were to apply that kind of thinking to trading, it becomes clear to see why the foreign exchange market is rightfully considered as the global behemoth that defies even time itself. Because for all intents and purposes in the global forex market, money also never sleeps.

As forex hours do not observe the so-called average or regular hours spent in other money-making activities, it actually even goes beyond what is already understood to be long hours spent at work. For example, to a "salaryman" in Japan who is used to working beyond the standard 8-hour/day, rendering 13-hours in a typical day with only 1 ½ hours of breaktime is not considered being a workaholic. In short, time can be flex
ible, depending on one's geography and prevalent culture.

That kind of limitation does not exist for the currency trading market. Geography and culture do not impact on forex hours. That is to say, the forex market is a 24-hour trading market, with the start of work happening in Australia, as the country's business hours begin on a Monday in its timezone. The global market then carries out its trading activities straight on, until the close of business hours in New York.

In-between, global financial centers worldwide, such as those found in major cities like Tokyo and London, are open and doing business.

As the world turns, and timezones change from day to night and vice-versa, there is no coresponding letup in the currency exchanges going on. If it is already night in one geographic region, the flow of money being exchanged does not stop, because in other timezones, the hours are suitable for business transactions. No other trading market can boast of such an achievement. It is only the forex market that can truly claim to being a master of time.