Monday through Friday, 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, South Africans can trade the international currency markets online. On a Sunday evening in South Africa, the global Forex markets open and can be traded at 23:00, and they close at 23:00 on a Friday night.
If you’re looking for advantageous trading conditions, you’ll find them when the Forex market is most volatile.
For example this can be seen when there is usually a lot of trade volume and thus a lot of volatility in London.
Added to this, the opening bell for the US session usually brings a lot of liquidity to the market, and there are different trading sessions which create further volatility in the Market.
In this article, we take a closer look at the best time for South African traders to take advantage of activity on the Forex market.
1. Find the right markets to trade
When determining the best time to trade in South Africa, the first step is to figure out which markets to trade (EUR, USD, GBP, CHF). Once you’ve decided the session and currency pair to trade, you can determine when the market is most active in South Africa.
Because of these time zone variances, the savvy South African trader must adjust their trading plans accordingly and find a broker which provides access to the best markets, such as Khwezi Trade.
2. Take note of volatility in different time zones
While the markets may be constantly moving and hence appear to be volatile, this apparent activity may not be what it appears.
When the market is open, large orders are processed by investors, causing a spike in volatility. This means that it’s critical to know what time certain markets begin trading in relation to South African time.
When trading sessions overlap, you run the danger of experiencing large market swings or gaps, which could have an adverse effect on your open positions.
3. The best markets to Trade for South Africans
Apart from determining the best time to trade in South Africa, it is also critical to define the best markets to trade relative to your time zone.
Trading in South Africa necessitates identifying the markets with the highest level of volatility over the time period in which we are actively monitoring our trades.
To take advantage of the narrower time difference between Europe and the rest of the world, the GBP, ZAR, and EUR markets should be traded.
It is important to approach these times of high volatility with a sound trading strategy that will allow you to take advantage of the opportunities for profit which this volatility provides.
Using a trading strategy also allows you to avoid making impulsive mistakes, such as closing your trade prematurely during the pressure of extreme market volatility.
South African traders would also do well to take advantage of bonuses and promotions offered by South African brokers which, when used in conjunction with leverage, can increase your positions without necessarily increasing your risk.
Regulated South African Forex brokers like Khwezi Trade provide excellent trading bonuses (outlined below) with profit-conducive leverage ratios that will allow South Africans to make the most of their trading potential, particularly when conducted at the right time for market volatility.
| Bonus | Leverage | Margin | Deposit | Buying Power | Effective Leverage |
| 100:1 | 1% | R 1,000 | R 100,000 | 100:1 | |
| 200:1 | 0.50% | R 1,000 | R 200,000 | 200:1 | |
| 60% | 100:1 | 1% | R 1,000 | R 160,000 | 160:1 |
| 60% | 200:1 | 0.50% | R 1,000 | R 320,000 | 320:1 |
