Why Is The Forex Market So Slow Today?

Introduction

If you are a full-time forex trader, you will know that there are some days that are more exciting (and potentially more profitable) than others.

For example, there might be some major economic data releases scheduled for the day that result in some wild price swings, as well as some decent opening range breakouts that present you with some good trading opportunities.

Similarly, there will often be some days where all of the major forex pairs are moving a lot with a wide intraday trading range, even in the absence of any major announcements, which again presents lots of good set-ups for day traders and swing traders.

The problem is that not every day is like this, and there are many days where it is really boring sitting in front of a computer screen all day because the markets are barely moving, leading many to ask themselves; why is the forex market so slow today??!!

So in this article I thought I would discuss some of the reasons why you will often see these quiet non-eventful days that make it so much harder to make money.

No Economic Data Releases

In my experience it is often Mondays that are the hardest days to generate a profit from, and the main reason why is because there don’t tend to be any major market-moving announcements scheduled for this day.

Therefore with nothing to drive the prices upwards or downwards, you will often see the price drifting upwards and downwards with no clear direction or momentum on these days, particularly if there are some big announcements scheduled for later in the week.

Public Holidays

Another reason why the forex markets can often be really slow is if there is a public holiday in one of the major developed countries.

For instance, if there is a public holiday in the US or the UK (or both), then this will obviously have an affect on the GBP/USD pair because it is likely to be a lot less volatile with a lot less price movement on this day.

Therefore it is always a good idea to use a trading calendar to see if there are any public holidays coming up that are likely to affect your favorite currency pairs.

Seasonal Factors

Following on from the last point, the markets will always be a lot slower over the Christmas and New Year holiday season, which is why many traders will stop trading during this time and take a complete break.

They will often tend to be a lot less volatile with smaller daily price movements during the summer months as well, so you will see a lot more of these slow days during this time of the year.

Therefore the best months to trade are arguably September – December (before Christmas) and January (after New Year) – May.

Indecision

There will be times when many of the major currency pairs will be in strong upward or downward trends, but there will also be times when the major pairs are trading in a sideways trading range for days on end.

Therefore when this occurs, you will inevitably see quite a few slow days with reduced volatility, and will simply have to wait for a new long-term trend to emerge before they kick into life once more.

Closing Comments – How To Deal With Slow Trading Sessions

I know all too well how frustrating it can be when the markets are barely moving because no-one enjoys staring at a computer screen for hours on end when there are no decent set-ups and no opportunities to generate a profit.

However there will always be days when the markets are slow. So it is important to keep your discipline during these slow days, and not be tempted into taking poor quality trades just for the sake of it because this will usually end up costing you money.

It is best to simply take the day off and preserve your capital instead. You don’t need to be trading every day. If you simply sit back and wait for the best set-ups to occur, then you should hopefully grow your capital over time.