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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 21 Jul · 12:50 PKT. Hours are platform server time.

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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
00:000.88.310×
01:000.87.6
02:000.86.5
03:000.86.3
04:000.85.4
05:000.87.3
06:000.810.313×
07:000.812.916×
08:000.811.715×
09:000.88.811×
10:000.89.612×
11:000.812.315×
12:000.822.728×
13:000.81316×
14:000.81519×
15:000.813.317×
16:000.811.915×
17:000.812.115×
18:000.87.3
19:000.86.9
20:000.9345.5
21:004.544.6
22:000.8276.2
23:000.85

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 07:004.54 at 21:0022.7 at 12:0012:00
GBP/USD1 at 07:0011.786 at 21:0025.7 at 14:0014:00
USD/JPY1 at 07:003.863 at 21:0021.8 at 12:0012:00
AUD/USD0.9 at 07:003.773 at 21:0015.3 at 12:0012:00
USD/CAD1.4 at 07:0012.955 at 21:0022.2 at 12:0012:00
USD/CHF1.3 at 07:003.179 at 21:0021.3 at 12:0012:00
NZD/USD1.4 at 07:007.315 at 21:0015.6 at 12:0012:00
EUR/GBP1.3 at 07:004 at 21:009.9 at 14:0014:00
EUR/JPY1.6 at 07:009.06 at 21:0023.1 at 07:0007:00
GBP/JPY2.1 at 07:0022.735 at 21:0033.6 at 14:0014:00
AUD/JPY1.1 at 07:007.194 at 21:0017 at 14:0014:00
XAU/USD (Gold)24 at 07:0034 at 21:003628 at 12:0012:00
XAG/USD (Silver)3 at 07:003 at 07:0083.6 at 12:0012:00
US Oil (WTI)2 at 07:002 at 07:00131.6 at 14:0014:00
UK Oil (Brent)3.296 at 20:005.314 at 00:00120.1 at 14:0014:00
BTC/USD1000 at 07:001000 at 07:0056185.1 at 15:0015:00
ETH/USD100 at 07:00100 at 07:002817.6 at 12:0012:00
US500 (S&P 500)107.974 at 05:00130.134 at 11:003530 at 14:0014:00
US30 (Dow)32.456 at 02:0037.277 at 21:003087.9 at 13:0013:00
USTEC (Nasdaq 100)360 at 07:00432 at 21:0024606.1 at 14:0014:00
DE30 (DAX)16 at 07:00434.84 at 23:001621.4 at 07:0007:00
JP225 (Nikkei 225)32 at 02:0071 at 20:0010192.4 at 00:0000:00
UK100 (FTSE 100)142 at 09:00943 at 21:005371.1 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 6× 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, 11:00, 12:00, 14:00.

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.

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