In a real world way, the 24 hour currency market is a myth. Some times are simply more appropriate to trade than others. Most tradable moves begin around the London session and end before the end of the New York session. Take a look at any chart with volume. You will see volume increase around 0200 EST and then dry up after 1400 EST. I used to have a real problem with this when I traded using ACD as
Mark Fisher states that the domicile market open for the Euro/U.S. Dollar is at 0230 EST. I would argue that there should be two openings-one for each currency in the pair. I finally figured out why Mark uses this time: it allows him to use the same opening range number for both the London and New York session. That way if the move does not start in the London session, he can possibly catch it in the New York one. As you correctly observed, most moves start out in London. Most of the best ACD trades start out in the London session.
New York, however, has the important news information. I don't know where you are, but can you name the head of the London central bank? How about the Fed? Get my point. When was the last time you stayed out of the market prior to German retail sales figures? My point, what happens in the U.S. matters. So when are the hours to trade. Well, if what happens in the U.S. matters, then we should be trading during some of the hours the S&P and NYSE are trading. But we know volume picks up noticeably when London opens. So our day needs start at 0200 EST and go until 1500. Although it is not a great idea to initiate a position after 1400 hrs. And we definitely want to be out by 1700 when interests are updated.
I use a 30 min initial balance period that starts at 0230 as per Mark. So first trade can't really be before 0300. Done for the day at 1400 hrs. Longer on Fed days. Sh*8 ! I should be in bed right now.
