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Measured data

Exness Trading Hours — When the Market Is Open and the Order Is Not — Nigeria

Four sources answer four different versions of the same complaint. Naming the source that holds the fact is quicker than naming the cause.

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100+ instruments  ·  Founded 2008

An order that will not go through while the market looks open has more than one possible owner of the answer, and they do not overlap. The specification of an instrument states when that instrument is scheduled to be quoted. The record on an account states what that account may do. The program states what the version in use supports. The connection states whether anything is arriving at all. The useful move is to name the source that holds the fact, rather than to guess at the cause.

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.

BTC/USD hour by hour (measured)

Hour (server)Avg spread (pts)Avg movement (pts)Movement per pt of spread
00:00100038697.139×
01:00100041032.641×
02:00100037368.637×
03:0010003393434×
04:00100028714.429×
05:00100043354.643×
06:00100031611.132×
07:0010003055931×
08:00100052917.753×
09:0010003301933×
10:0010003436834×
11:0010003007430×
12:00100081545.982×
13:00100058464.958×
14:00100072075.372×
15:00100056622.657×
16:00100055829.756×
17:00100043020.443×
18:00100041203.941×
19:00100037254.937×
20:00100032412.132×
21:0010004646746×
22:00100037940.438×
23:00100044865.345×

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
BTC/USD1000 at 07:001000 at 07:0081545.9 at 12:0012:00
ETH/USD100 at 07:00100 at 07:002845.4 at 12:0012:00

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 BTC/USD hour was 07:00 server time, where the average spread ran about 1× 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 06:00, 16:00, 17:00, 19:00.

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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Why the wrong source still replies

A source that does not hold the fact does not fall silent. It answers correctly about the part it covers and says nothing about the part that was asked, and that combination reads like a resolution. This is the main way a question stays open while looking closed.

The check is one sentence long: could this source have seen the thing being asked about? A specification never sees an account, a record never sees a schedule, and neither of them sees a connection. When the answer to that sentence is no, the reply that arrived is about something else.

What each source can state, and what it cannot

The sourceWhat it can stateWhat it cannot state
The specification of the instrumentWhen that instrument is scheduled to be quoted, and on which calendarAnything about one particular account
The record attached to the accountWhat that account may trade, and in what sizeAnything about the schedule itself
The program in useWhat the installed version supportsWhy a quote is absent
The connectionWhether the terminal is receiving anything at allAnything about the instrument or the account
No source at allNothingWhether the same thing happens tomorrow

Reading these five rows in order costs less than one message, and it names the addressee before anything is written.

Frequently asked questions

The market looks open and the order is refused — which source states why?
Whichever one holds the fact. A refusal that is about the instrument is stated by its specification; a refusal that is about the account is stated by the record on that account. The two are read in different places and do not overlap.
Which source states whether an instrument is available at all?
The specification of that instrument, which carries the calendar it follows and reads the same for everyone — unlike the record on an account, which applies to one account only.
Why is the same instrument quoted on one account and not on another?
Because availability is recorded per account, not per instrument. The specification says when the instrument trades; the record on the account says whether it is there at all.
Why does asking the wrong source waste time rather than simply failing?
Because that source still replies. The answer is correct about what it covers and silent about what was asked, which reads like a resolution and is not one.

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