Exness Trading Hours — Spread and Movement by Hour · South Africa
How the measured spread and the average hourly movement change through the trading day on Exness’s MetaTrader 5 feed — measured 31 Oct · 09:46 SAST. Hours are platform server time.
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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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07:00 | 0.8 | 14.1 | 18× |
| 08:00 | 0.8 | 13.7 | 17× |
| 09:00 | 0.8 | 14 | 18× |
| 10:00 | 0.8 | 10.7 | 13× |
| 11:00 | 0.8 | 12.2 | 15× |
| 12:00 | 0.8 | 15.8 | 20× |
| 13:00 | 0.8 | 18 | 22× |
| 14:00 | 0.8 | 17.4 | 22× |
| 15:00 | 0.8 | 14 | 18× |
| 16:00 | 0.8 | 12.6 | 16× |
| 17:00 | 0.8 | 10.4 | 13× |
| 18:00 | 0.8 | 14.8 | 18× |
| 19:00 | 0.8 | 7 | 9× |
| 20:00 | 1.44 | 11.3 | 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
| Instrument | Tightest avg spread | Widest avg spread | Biggest hourly movement | Movement-per-cost peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD | 0.8 at 07:00 | 1.44 at 20:00 | 18 at 13:00 | 13:00 |
| GBP/USD | 1 at 07:00 | 1.85 at 20:00 | 21.5 at 14:00 | 14:00 |
| USD/JPY | 1 at 07:00 | 2.155 at 20:00 | 32.7 at 00:00 | 13:00 |
| AUD/USD | 0.9 at 07:00 | 0.9 at 07:00 | 14.3 at 01:00 | 14:00 |
| USD/CAD | 1.4 at 08:00 | 1.793 at 20:00 | 19.5 at 13:00 | 13:00 |
| XAU/USD (Gold) | 24 at 13:00 | 24.015 at 07:00 | 2644.2 at 14:00 | 14:00 |
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 20:00 server time, where the average spread ran about 2× 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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