Direct answer
Forex is effectively open for trading for most of the week. In practice, market activity runs continuously from the start of the trading week until the week’s end, with daily breaks around market closes and opens.
Because “forex market hours” can mean different things, the weekly total depends on which definition you use (for example, whether you count only moments when trading is fully active, or any time when matching is available through the week). For a precise weekly number, you need the specific market-hours schedule used by your broker or data provider.
Explanation: what “open” means
Forex typically trades through major global dealing sessions, commonly described as Asia, Europe, and the U.S. When one region’s session is winding down, another is starting up, which is why forex is often described as running nearly 24 hours a day on trading days.
However, the key detail for “per week” is that there is no single worldwide clock for “open.” Most platforms follow a schedule that reflects:
- the weekly market start (often around the transition from the weekend into Monday),
- the daily rollover periods when liquidity can drop and quoting may change, and
- the weekly market end (often around the transition from Friday into the weekend).
So, there is no universal, verifiable “X hours per week” that always holds for every broker, platform, and data feed.
Example checks you can do
To estimate or verify the weekly trading window you care about, use two independent checks:
- Check your broker or platform’s “trading hours” or “market hours” page and note the weekly start and end times in the timezone shown.
- If you use market data, compare the timestamps where liquidity or quotes are consistently available during the week.
Then, calculate the weekly span from the platform’s weekly start time to its weekly end time, and separately decide whether you want to count periods with reduced activity (for example, rollover windows) as “open.”
Limitations and uncertainty
- No real-time market status is assumed here, and hours can change with platform settings or operational schedules.
- The same pair can have different “available trading time” windows depending on the venue and the broker’s execution model.
- Because “open” is ambiguous (fully liquid vs any tradable time), any single weekly-hour number must be tied to a specific definition and provider schedule.