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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 15 Jul · 12:56 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
00:000.89.712×
01:000.89.211×
02:000.87.810×
03:000.8810×
04:000.86
05:000.88.511×
06:000.81114×
07:000.812.616×
08:000.815.519×
09:000.89.412×
10:000.810.713×
11:000.812.516×
12:000.81718.923×
13:000.814.418×
14:000.814.518×
15:000.815.920×
16:000.811.915×
17:000.810.113×
18:000.88.911×
19:000.86.8
20:000.8676.3
21:003.66.3
22:000.8556.2
23:000.86

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 07:003.6 at 21:0018.9 at 12:0012:00
GBP/USD1 at 07:0012.96 at 21:0024.2 at 12:0012:00
USD/JPY1 at 07:006.24 at 21:0025 at 01:0001:00
AUD/USD0.9 at 07:003.965 at 21:0015.7 at 12:0012:00
USD/CAD1.4 at 02:008.181 at 21:0020.2 at 12:0013:00
USD/CHF1.3 at 07:003.487 at 21:0017.5 at 12:0012:00
NZD/USD1.4 at 07:005.556 at 21:0016 at 12:0012:00
EUR/GBP1.3 at 07:007.997 at 21:007.9 at 12:0008:00
EUR/JPY1.6 at 07:006.237 at 21:0026.6 at 07:0007:00
GBP/JPY2.698 at 03:0026.986 at 21:0029.8 at 07:0007:00
AUD/JPY1.9 at 07:0011.304 at 21:0017.6 at 07:0007:00
XAU/USD (Gold)24 at 07:0026.49 at 12:002971.3 at 12:0014:00
XAG/USD (Silver)3 at 07:003.05 at 12:0078.2 at 12:0012:00
US Oil (WTI)2 at 07:002.001 at 12:00135.2 at 14:0014:00
UK Oil (Brent)3.358 at 20:004.018 at 14:00119.8 at 14:0008:00
BTC/USD1000 at 07:001000 at 07:0054736.7 at 14:0014:00
ETH/USD100 at 07:00100 at 07:002117 at 01:0001:00
US500 (S&P 500)108 at 03:00130.182 at 12:003896.6 at 14:0014:00
US30 (Dow)33.076 at 02:0037.277 at 10:002646 at 14:0014:00
USTEC (Nasdaq 100)360 at 07:00398.831 at 21:0025503.6 at 14:0014:00
DE30 (DAX)16 at 07:00452.916 at 23:001381.6 at 07:0007:00
JP225 (Nikkei 225)32.473 at 03:0071 at 20:009832.5 at 00:0000:00
UK100 (FTSE 100)142 at 09:00858 at 20:005670.6 at 07:0014:00

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 4× 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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