Forex continues to operate even on weekends – interbank-level currency exchange operations initiated by market makers keep happening.
Every trading week, currency pair quotes in our terminal freeze on Friday at 23:59:59 and resume movement on Monday at 00:00:01. Trading does not occur on Saturday and Sunday due to the absence of prices, so many traders believe the forex market is closed on weekends. You might be surprised, but they are mistaken. Let’s discuss why it’s important to track weekend quotes.
What Happens to Quotes on Weekends?
Forex continues to work even on weekends – interbank-level currency exchange operations initiated by market makers persist.
Over Saturday and Sunday, trading volumes accumulate, and they take effect in the first second of Monday. If there’s a significant imbalance toward buys or sells, Monday’s opening price will differ sharply from Friday’s close, forming a gap.
Why Are Weekend Quotes Needed?
Of course, if your trading strategy involves closing all positions at the end of the trading week, there’s no need to monitor weekend quotes. However, there are several reasons why it’s still worth doing so:
Earn on gaps. Analysis of this data can provide insights into gap formation preconditions and predict its direction.
Build a trading plan. If there’s no imbalance or it’s insignificant in orders, you can perform technical analysis on the traded currency pair, identify nearby support and resistance levels, and create a trading plan for the next week.
Manage open positions. If a trader goes into the weekend with an open trade, monitoring quotes allows planning actions for market open, such as partial or full profit taking, order adjustments, etc.
Where Can You See Currency Pair Quotes on Weekends?
As you know, the most common trading terminals MetaTrader 4 and 5 do not provide forex quote information on weekends. Nevertheless, you can use other simple and convenient quote sources. We’ll share the most common ones:
- OANDA – market maker with access to a global database. Quote values update every 5 seconds. For ease of use, the entire table is divided into categories: major pairs, pairs with euro, other pairs, metals.
- QUESTRADE – Canadian broker partnering with Morningstar, Inc. institute. Thanks to this, maximum quote delay is no more than 15 minutes. The table has a convenient filter allowing work with 8 instruments simultaneously.
- ХЕ – quotes from this company have high reliability as they are collected from 100 different sources. Data on the page updates automatically every 10 seconds. Users can choose a general or special table at their discretion. The first shows info only for popular assets, while the second allows checking any pair.
- TRADINGCHARTS – this platform has a convenient filter system dividing all assets by categories. Updates happen automatically, but traders can manually refresh data using a special button for faster access.
When Is the Best Time to Check Currency Pair Quotes on Weekends?
On weekends, order inflows and trading volume accumulation typically occur unevenly. To get the most objective picture, it’s best to check weekend quotes on Sunday, 4-6 hours before trading starts.
Now you can easily find online quotes for your needed forex currency pair on weekends, and this information will help you see the trading situation more clearly and make profitable decisions.
