CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Trade only with money you can afford to lose.
Open Exness Account →
Measured data

Exness Trading Hours — Spread and Movement by Hour

How the measured spread and the average hourly movement change through the trading day on Exness’s MetaTrader 5 feed — measured 14 Jul · 10:57 +03. Hours are platform server time.

Open Exness Account →

Min deposit $10  ·  100+ instruments  ·  Founded 2008

How to read this

A trading hour is attractive when the market moves a lot relative to what entering costs. The last column divides the average hourly movement by the average spread in that hour — more movement per pip of spread means the hour is cheaper to trade relative to its opportunity, before strategy and news are considered.

EUR/USD hour by hour (measured)

Hour (server)Avg spread (pips)Avg movement (pips)Movement per pip of spread
00:000.89.512×
01:000.89.912×
02:000.87.6
03:000.87.910×
04:000.85.7
05:000.88.811×
06:000.810.113×
07:000.812.215×
08:000.814.718×
09:000.89.812×
10:000.810.513×
11:000.811.314×
12:000.811.514×
13:000.813.917×
14:000.813.216×
15:000.813.317×
16:000.81114×
17:000.88.711×
18:000.87.910×
19:000.86.6
20:000.8876.3
21:006.1966.3
22:000.845.8
23:000.86.1

Spread = average of all quotes captured in that hour over the last 24h; movement = average high–low of that hour over the last 7 sessions. Hours are MT5 server time.

All instruments — where spreads tighten and widen

InstrumentTightest avg spreadWidest avg spreadBiggest hourly movementMovement-per-cost peak
EUR/USD0.8 at 07:006.196 at 21:0014.7 at 08:0008:00
GBP/USD1 at 07:009.279 at 21:0019.3 at 08:0008:00
USD/JPY1 at 08:006.738 at 21:0026.8 at 01:0001:00
AUD/USD0.9 at 07:001.974 at 21:0010.6 at 00:0000:00
USD/CAD1.402 at 09:003.462 at 21:0017.5 at 13:0013:00
USD/CHF1.3 at 07:003.305 at 21:0012.4 at 14:0014:00
NZD/USD1.4 at 07:004.665 at 21:0012.3 at 01:0001:00
EUR/GBP1.3 at 07:002.655 at 21:007.4 at 08:0008:00
EUR/JPY1.6 at 08:009.052 at 21:0027.4 at 07:0007:00
GBP/JPY2.687 at 12:0025.693 at 21:0031.6 at 07:0007:00
AUD/JPY1.9 at 07:003.926 at 21:0017.9 at 00:0000:00
XAU/USD (Gold)24 at 09:0028.584 at 21:002825.8 at 14:0014:00
XAG/USD (Silver)3 at 07:003 at 07:0076.1 at 08:0008:00
US Oil (WTI)2 at 07:002 at 07:00114.5 at 14:0014:00
UK Oil (Brent)3.191 at 15:003.856 at 00:00102.1 at 08:0008:00
BTC/USD1000 at 07:001000 at 07:0058632.9 at 01:0001:00
ETH/USD100 at 07:00100 at 07:002341.4 at 01:0001:00
US500 (S&P 500)108 at 03:00131.452 at 21:003388.1 at 14:0014:00
US30 (Dow)32.547 at 03:0038 at 21:002512.9 at 14:0014:00
USTEC (Nasdaq 100)360 at 07:00389.112 at 21:0022476.7 at 14:0014:00
DE30 (DAX)16 at 07:00436.377 at 23:001351.7 at 07:0007:00
JP225 (Nikkei 225)32.028 at 04:0071 at 20:0010047.4 at 00:0000:00
UK100 (FTSE 100)142 at 09:00943 at 21:005192.1 at 07:0008:00

Spread in pips (points for non-FX). ‘Movement-per-cost peak’ is the hour with the most movement per pip of spread.

The rollover hour

In this sample the widest EUR/USD hour was 21:00 server time, where the average spread ran about 8× the typical hour. This is the daily rollover window — swaps are applied, liquidity providers reset, and quotes briefly widen. Positions held with tight stop-losses through this hour can be stopped out by the spread alone. The most active hours by tick count were 07:00, 08:00, 14:00, 16:00.

How this was measured

  • Spread by hour: every captured quote on Exness's own MT5 feed, bucketed by server hour (last 24h).
  • Movement by hour: average H1 candle range over the last 7 sessions, from the same feed.
  • The ratio compares movement to entry cost only — it is not a prediction of direction.
  • Figures refresh on a schedule and vary day to day.

Measured in-terminal on Exness’s own MetaTrader 5 pricing feed and symbol specifications, refreshed on a schedule. All figures are indicative and change with market conditions.

Open Exness Account →

Related Exness pages