When Is the Best Time to trade Binary Options in 2025?

Many traders, influencers, and even governments consider binary options trading as gambling. Meanwhile, if you have a professional and systematic approach, it can still be profitable, and the gambling claims are not justified at all. So, in this article, I’ll talk about the best time to trade binary options, which is one of the primary factors you should get right in order to reach profitability.

Arguably, the best time to trade binary options is the London/New York session overlap. Yet, there are also other factors, like asset classes and your personal location and strategy, that you should consider. There isn’t one best time period for everyone.

Understanding Market Sessions

If you’re even slightly familiar with binary options trading, you’ll know that timing is even more important compared to CFD and crypto trading. This is because every binary options trade has an expiry time and does not rely on stop loss and take profit orders to take you out.

Yet, to figure out when is the best time to trade binary options, you should first understand market sessions. Different markets around the world operate at different hours, and depending on the asset classes you wish to trade, your personal location, and even your strategy, the first step is to determine which session you’re going to trade.

Overview of Global Trading Sessions

The financial markets operate 24 hours a day, with the forex market being open for 5 working days per week and the crypto market being open for the whole week.

Moreover, while the stock markets of each country are open during business hours, they can still be traded at any time during the weekdays using CFDs and futures or even binary options OTC markets.

Overall, global trading sessions are divided into four, which are as follows:

• Pacific Session (Sydney): The first market to kick things off after the weekend is Sydney. It’s usually a quieter session with lower volatility unless there’s a major news event that affects the Australian or New Zealand economies.
• Asian Session (Tokyo): As the sun moves west, Japan’s Tokyo market comes to life. This session is dominated by yen-related currency pairs, and liquidity starts picking up. Other Asian markets like Hong Kong and Singapore are also open during this period.
• European Session (London): This is where the action really starts to pick up and when I personally open up my charts. London is one of the largest financial hubs in the world, and its session brings high liquidity and volatility, especially for European pairs.
• North American Session (New York): The final session of the day, New York is just as active as London, if not more. This is also the second session I trade. By the time New York winds down, Sydney is getting ready to open again.

Trading Session Overlaps – When the Market Heats Up

Each session has its own rhythm, but the real fireworks happen when two major sessions overlap. These are short periods, and I only use one myself, but their second one could also be perfect for short-term binary options trades on certain pairs:

• London/New York Overlap: This is the most volatile and liquid period of the day. For us binary traders, it’s like heaven as the two biggest financial centers in the world are active at the same time.
• London/Tokyo Overlap: This overlap is not as intense as the London/New York overlap, and I don’t personally trade it myself. However, it still gets busy, especially if you trade EUR/JPY.

When Is the Best Time to Trade Binary Options?

So, let’s finally see when the best time to trade binary options is. I’m going to assume all of you are short-term traders, as binary options are usually short-term contracts. Yet, the answer still depends on various factors, with the main one being the asset class you want to trade.

Let’s divide the best times to trade binary options by four asset classes: currencies, commodities, stocks (or indices), and crypto:

Currencies (Forex)

Forex trading is 24/5, but there’s a specific best time for binary options trading, and it is the London/New York overlap (13:00–17:00 GMT), which I use myself. Another period I really like is the first two hours of the London session (8-10 AM GMT).

Stocks and Indices

If you’re trading stock binary options or even indices, you need to trade during their official exchange hours. The best time for this one is the U.S. stock market opening hours (from 9:30 – 11:30 AM GMT), speaking from years of index trading experience.

Commodities (Gold, Silver, Oil, etc.)

Commodities don’t trade 24/7, and each has its own active hours depending on global demand. Crude Oil & Natural Gas are most active during the New York session (9:30 AM – 3:00 PM EST) when the U.S. energy markets are open.

Gold and Silver Peak during the London/New York overlap (13:00–17:00 GMT) when institutional investors and hedge funds trade heavily.

Cryptocurrency

Crypto is different from traditional markets, as it trades 24/7 due to being decentralized. Yet, once again, volume and volatility are higher at certain times. The Weekdays during the U.S. and Europe’s most volatile trading hours (12:00–17:00 GMT) are the best times to trade binary options on crypto, as it is when major institutional and retail traders are most active.

Yet, there are two other periods that can be great for binary trading. The first one is the Tokyo session, as there are a lot of large Asian investors in crypto. The other one is the weekends because while the liquidity can be low, the price can move a lot on low liquidity in crypto, and thus, it can get highly volatile.

Worst Times to Trade Binary Options

We’ve already discussed when the best time for binary options trading is. Yet, let’s focus on the worst time now and when it’s better to remain on the sidelines:

• During Major Economic News Releases: High-impact economic events can cause wild, unpredictable moves. Use an economic calendar, and if your binary options strategy doesn’t rely on news, stay out of the market. 
• Weekends and Holidays: Apart from crypto, financial markets are closed during weekends and public holidays. This reduces volatility, increases slippage, and can even lead to lower payout ratios on binary options brokers. 
• Outside Major Market Sessions: This one is especially true for forex and stocks, as once again, the markets will be quiet, and we binary options traders do not like that.
• During Sideways Markets: When markets lack clear direction and are moving rangebound, I recommend you to stay out. Unless, of course, you trade very short-term, like 60-sec binary options, or you use algorithms and HFT methods.

Why Is Timing So Important in Binary Trading?

I’m sure I’ve stated it before, and I’ll do it again: Timing is everything in binary options trading. This is because the entire structure of this instrument is based on expiration times. Stop-loss and take-profit orders, or even manual executions, can’t get you out of trades. Therefore, always stick to the best times for binary options trading, and obviously, avoid the worst.

Can You Trade Binary Options on Weekends?

Yes, you can trade binary options on weekends. However, you can only do so through brokers that offer OTC (Over-the-Counter) markets. This is because centralized exchanges are closed on weekends.

Popular brokers like Pocket Option and IQ Option allow weekend trading on OTC assets, including forex pairs, cryptocurrencies, and some commodities. Make sure to check out the list of the best binary options brokers for more information.

Conclusion

As we’ve discussed, the best time for binary options trading is somehow subjective. However, the London and New York sessions, and especially their overlap (1:00 PM – 5:00 PM GMT), are the safest bets.

Then again, you still need to test your strategy using free binary options demo accounts or even backtest them on TradingView to find out the absolute best time period for you.

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