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Measured data

Exness Trading Hours — Spread and Movement by Hour (Botswana)

How the measured spread and the average hourly movement change through the trading day on Exness’s MetaTrader 5 feed — measured 3 Nov · 07:59 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
00:000.812.315×
01:000.811.114×
02:000.87.39×
03:000.87.59×
04:000.85.87×
05:000.87.19×
06:000.89.312×
07:000.813.817×
08:000.815.820×
09:000.814.218×
10:000.811.715×
11:000.810.413×
12:000.816.420×
13:000.818.924×
14:000.817.822×
15:000.814.218×
16:000.812.516×
17:000.89.812×
18:000.815.720×
19:000.88.110×
20:000.813.317×
21:004.4696.31×
22:001.4648.56×
23:000.88.711×

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 07:004.469 at 21:0018.9 at 13:0013:00
GBP/USD1 at 07:004.357 at 22:0022.8 at 13:0013:00
USD/JPY1 at 07:002.987 at 21:0028.9 at 00:0000:00
AUD/USD0.9 at 07:004.927 at 21:0013.5 at 14:0014:00
USD/CAD1.4 at 08:002.915 at 22:0020.5 at 13:0013:00
USD/CHF1.3 at 07:003.89 at 22:0016.7 at 12:0012:00
NZD/USD1.4 at 07:009.325 at 21:0023 at 01:0001:00
EUR/GBP1.3 at 07:003.93 at 22:008.7 at 15:0015:00
EUR/JPY1.6 at 07:006.257 at 21:0034 at 14:0014:00
GBP/JPY2 at 09:0021.189 at 21:0038.8 at 14:0014:00
AUD/JPY1.1 at 07:006.472 at 21:0026.2 at 01:0001:00
XAU/USD (Gold)24 at 07:0025.409 at 22:002980.7 at 14:0014:00
XAG/USD (Silver)2.5 at 07:002.5 at 07:0074.8 at 13:0013:00
US Oil (WTI)1.4 at 07:001.4 at 07:00134.6 at 13:0013:00
UK Oil (Brent)1.7 at 07:001.78 at 18:00130.8 at 13:0013:00
BTC/USD640 at 07:00640 at 07:0068430.6 at 20:0020:00
ETH/USD100 at 07:00100 at 07:002855.6 at 20:0020:00
US500 (S&P 500)40 at 07:0043.961 at 22:003201.1 at 14:0014:00
US30 (Dow)10 at 14:0013.104 at 10:002168.3 at 14:0014:00
USTEC (Nasdaq 100)112 at 07:00114.489 at 20:0021184.3 at 14:0014:00
DE30 (DAX)7 at 07:0067.515 at 23:001469.7 at 08:0008:00
JP225 (Nikkei 225)31 at 07:0040.247 at 22:006315.4 at 00:0000:00
UK100 (FTSE 100)98 at 07:00860 at 21:004591.7 at 08:0008:00

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 6× 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 08:00, 12:00, 13:00, 14:00.

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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