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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 16 Jul · 07:50 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
00:000.810.113×
01:000.8911×
02:000.87.710×
03:000.87.810×
04:000.86
05:000.88.210×
06:000.811.114×
07:000.812.716×
08:000.814.718×
09:000.89.211×
10:000.810.213×
11:000.812.616×
12:000.82126×
13:000.814.118×
14:000.814.818×
15:000.815.720×
16:000.812.616×
17:000.813.517×
18:000.89.812×
19:000.8810×
20:000.8836.4
21:003.7885.9
22:000.8066.3
23:000.85.7

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 07:003.788 at 21:0021 at 12:0012:00
GBP/USD1 at 07:006.989 at 21:0026 at 12:0012:00
USD/JPY1 at 07:0015.412 at 21:0022.6 at 00:0000:00
AUD/USD0.9 at 07:002.57 at 21:0016 at 12:0012:00
USD/CAD1.4 at 07:003.929 at 21:0020.7 at 12:0012:00
USD/CHF1.3 at 07:005.564 at 21:0019.7 at 12:0012:00
NZD/USD1.4 at 07:005.091 at 21:0016.6 at 12:0012:00
EUR/GBP1.3 at 07:005.982 at 21:009 at 14:0014:00
EUR/JPY1.6 at 07:008.136 at 21:0026.1 at 07:0007:00
GBP/JPY2.7 at 07:0026.466 at 21:0032.3 at 14:0014:00
AUD/JPY1.9 at 07:007.252 at 21:0018.2 at 00:0000:00
XAU/USD (Gold)24 at 07:0027.829 at 21:003094 at 12:0012:00
XAG/USD (Silver)3 at 07:003 at 07:0080.3 at 12:0012:00
US Oil (WTI)2 at 07:002 at 07:00143.1 at 14:0014:00
UK Oil (Brent)3.242 at 18:003.931 at 00:00131 at 14:0014:00
BTC/USD1000 at 07:001000 at 07:0054519.6 at 14:0014:00
ETH/USD100 at 07:00100 at 07:002539.1 at 12:0012:00
US500 (S&P 500)108 at 02:00129.86 at 12:003964.7 at 14:0014:00
US30 (Dow)32.785 at 03:0038 at 21:002574.6 at 14:0014:00
USTEC (Nasdaq 100)360 at 07:00367.254 at 22:0028235.7 at 14:0014:00
DE30 (DAX)16 at 07:00441.547 at 23:001437.3 at 07:0007:00
JP225 (Nikkei 225)32.833 at 02:0071 at 20:009939.1 at 00:0000:00
UK100 (FTSE 100)142 at 08:00876.488 at 20:005395 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 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, 17:00.

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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