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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 24 Jul · 06:50 UTC. 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
00:000.86.9
01:000.86.7
02:000.87.4
03:000.85
04:000.85.3
05:000.86.1
06:000.89.612×
07:000.810.713×
08:000.81012×
09:000.88.410×
10:000.89.111×
11:000.811.514×
12:000.815.620×
13:000.813.517×
14:000.813.116×
15:000.8911×
16:000.88.711×
17:000.89.712×
18:000.86.6
19:000.86.5
20:000.8354.9
21:004.2784.4
22:000.83.7
23:000.83.8

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 06:004.278 at 21:0015.6 at 12:0012:00
GBP/USD1 at 06:008.693 at 21:0025.6 at 14:0014:00
USD/JPY1 at 06:005.656 at 21:0020.3 at 07:0007:00
AUD/USD0.9 at 06:003.594 at 21:0012.5 at 12:0012:00
USD/CAD1.4 at 09:003.939 at 21:0016.9 at 13:0013:00
USD/CHF1.3 at 06:003.09 at 21:0014.7 at 12:0012:00
NZD/USD1.4 at 06:004.982 at 21:0011.1 at 12:0012:00
EUR/GBP1.3 at 06:004.232 at 21:0010.9 at 14:0014:00
EUR/JPY1.6 at 06:009.166 at 21:0021.9 at 07:0007:00
GBP/JPY2.1 at 06:0022.278 at 21:0035.3 at 13:0013:00
AUD/JPY1.1 at 06:007.308 at 21:0018 at 01:0001:00
XAU/USD (Gold)24 at 06:0026 at 21:002969.8 at 12:0012:00
XAG/USD (Silver)3 at 06:003 at 06:0090.9 at 13:0013:00
US Oil (WTI)2 at 06:002 at 06:00109.2 at 07:0007:00
UK Oil (Brent)3.653 at 06:004.243 at 00:00104.4 at 07:0007:00
BTC/USD1000 at 06:001000 at 06:0045213.1 at 15:0015:00
ETH/USD100 at 06:00100 at 06:001733.4 at 13:0013:00
US500 (S&P 500)107.956 at 03:00129 at 21:003265.9 at 13:0013:00
US30 (Dow)33.886 at 18:0037.182 at 21:003346.3 at 13:0013:00
USTEC (Nasdaq 100)358.826 at 04:00405.306 at 21:0023344.9 at 13:0013:00
DE30 (DAX)16 at 06:00426.905 at 23:001514.9 at 07:0007:00
JP225 (Nikkei 225)31.88 at 03:0071 at 06:009161.5 at 00:0000:00
UK100 (FTSE 100)142 at 10:00859.527 at 22:005241.1 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 5× 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 12:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00.

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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