Sydney Session

What is the Sydney Session?

Sydney is Australia's largest financial center and the smallest of the four major forex sessions by volume. Under 5% of daily forex turnover happens during pure-Sydney hours. The session matters less for liquidity and more for two specific functions:

1. Opening the trading week: Sydney opens Sunday at 5 PM ET, kicking off the new trading week before Tokyo, London, or NY come online. Sunday-night gaps fill in this window.

2. AUD and NZD catalysts: RBA / RBNZ decisions and Australasian economic data drop during Sydney hours and move the home currencies sharply.

Hours (ET)

5 PM to 2 AM ET (approx, varies with DST)

Local time

8 AM to 5 PM Sydney time

Volume share

Under 5% of daily forex turnover

Key overlap

Sydney opens the trading week (Sunday 5 PM ET)

When to trade Sydney

Sydney's structure:

Pure Sydney (5 to 7 PM ET): Lowest volume of the entire 24-hour cycle. Suitable for AUD/NZD or pure-AUD setups around local data, but most pairs drift.

Sydney-Tokyo overlap (7 PM to 2 AM ET): Volume picks up as Tokyo joins. Most actual trading activity during Sydney-counted hours happens in this overlap window.

Sunday open (5 PM ET Sunday): The week's first prices print here. Gaps from Friday's close can be 10-30 pips on majors, larger if a major news event hit over the weekend.

Best pairs to trade

Antipodean and Asian-currency pairs dominate Sydney:

- AUD/USD: prime Sydney pair. RBA decisions and Australian data drop here. - NZD/USD: prime Sydney pair for Kiwi flow. RBNZ events fire here. - AUD/NZD: the cleanest range pair in forex. Best traded during Sydney + Tokyo when both home markets are active. - AUD/JPY, NZD/JPY: yen-cross pairs that gather steam through the Sydney-Tokyo transition.

Skip USD-only or EUR-only setups during pure-Sydney hours — those pairs are dormant and the spreads are wide.

Top pairs for this session: AUD/USD · NZD/USD · AUD/NZD · AUD/JPY · NZD/JPY.

News calendar to watch

Sydney-session catalysts:

- RBA rate decisions: typically 11:30 PM ET on the first Tuesday of each month (except January). Produces 80-150 pip moves on AUD pairs. - RBA Statement on Monetary Policy: quarterly, midnight ET on RBA decision days. - Australian CPI: quarterly, typically 9:30 PM ET. - RBNZ rate decisions: roughly 9 PM ET on decision days (7 per year). Moves NZD pairs 80-150 pips on surprises. - Australian employment data: monthly, typically 9:30 PM ET. - Chinese data: bleeds into the late Sydney window before Tokyo opens fully.

See the full live calendar on the economic calendar, or look up unfamiliar terms in the forex glossary.

Sydney Session FAQ