The Trading Sessions indicator (FXSSI.TradingSessions) shows the most significant trading sessions for the Forex market, such as London, New York, Tokyo, and Sydney.
The sessions are presented as colored boxes on the chart, thereby clearly indicating open and close times of a particular session, as well as its trading range.
What trading sessions does the indicator show?
This session indicator shows the time of four main Forex sessions. The operating hours of trading sessions are shown in the following table:
| Session | Acronym | Opening time | Closing time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | (Tokyo/Tyo/To) | 23:00 UTC | 8:00 UTC |
| London | (London/Ldn/Ln) | 7:00 UTC | 16:00 UTC |
| New York | (New York/Nyc/Ny) | 12:00 UTC | 21:00 UTC |
| Sydney | (Sydney/Syd/Sy) | 21:00 UTC | 6:00 UTC |
Each trading session lasts 9 hours. Based on this schedule, there are trading hours when sessions of some stock exchanges overlap:
- Tokyo and London: 1 hour.
- London and New York: 4 hours.
- Sydney and Tokyo: 7 hours.
Features of the Trading Sessions Indicator
FXSSI.TradingSessions is a simple and, at the same time, quite functional Forex sessions indicator, developed for the MT4 terminal. It is available to download for free.
Compared to other popular indicators such as i-Sessions, for example, our Forex market sessions indicator has a number of advantages:
- On top of the past and current trading sessions, this auto session indicator for MT4 also shows time of the future sessions;
- Automatic time zone detection;
- A simplified display mode for higher timeframes is implemented;
- The color scheme is set to maintain the balance between visibility and frequency of use. In other words, this Forex sessions indicator won’t complicate your work with the chart, unlike any other similar indicators using vibrant color schemes.
How is this Forex market session indicator used?
Traders normally use trading sessions to determine the volatile hours throughout the day, since the trading activities vary from one stock exchange to another.
London and New York market trading sessions are considered to be the most volatile, especially during the 4-hour overlap.
There are also strategies aiming only at the opening of the London session or those that allow trading only during the Asian session.
The calmest or, one might even say, “flat” session is the Sydney (Pacific) one.
Notably, strengthening of a trend or its change often coincides with the open time of a particular trading session.
To sum it up, we can say that the market session indicator alone doesn’t generate any trading signals. However, like other informational indicators, the Trading Sessions indicator is an indispensable assistant in the arsenal of every trader.
Simplified display mode for H1 timeframes and higher
After installing the indicator, at first it may seem that it doesn’t work properly on H1 timeframes and higher, which is confirmed by numerous user requests.
However, if you try to get to the bottom of the question, you’ll see that it doesn’t make sense to plot sessions on the chart starting from the H1 timeframe. The session lasts 9 hours, which corresponds to 9 bars on the chart and is not a convenient size for the market analysis. Let’s consider an example:
The rectangles of the sessions are too small, and their readings cannot be analyzed.
Therefore, we decided to use a simplified session display mode for H1 timeframes and higher. The indicator displays only the vertical line of the upcoming session, as well as the time left before it opens.
The logic behind it is something like this: all the trend changes occur at the time of opening or closing of a session. So, the Session Indicator displays only this information in the simplified mode on H1 and higher timeframes, as it is the most significant one.
Settings
Session Options On/Off – allows you to select the sessions that will and will not be displayed on the chart. By default, Tokyo, London, and New York sessions are enabled, while the Sydney session is not.
Short Name Length – sets the length of the abbreviated session name displayed next to the rectangular frame.
Server Time Offset allows selecting the Time zone. By default, it‘s detected automatically. The given parameter affects the positioning of sessions on the chart. Although the time zone is detected automatically, you should make sure whether the sessions are correctly located. If not, set the required time zone manually in the indicator settings.
Fill Sessions Background. Enables/disables the background fill for boxes indicating trading sessions.
Past Sessions to Show is the number of past sessions to be displayed on the chart. This number includes already closed and still open sessions, but not the future ones.
Future Sessions to Show determines the number of future sessions to be displayed on the chart. The last ones are presented as vertical lines.
Show Till Timeframe. Sets the timeframe up to which all including sessions will be displayed.
Color Scheme. By default, the indicator automatically detects the color scheme depending on the chart background. If necessary, select the desired color scheme from the list.
How to add FXSSI.TradingSessions in MT4
Follow the instructions below to install the Indicator to your MT4 terminal:
- Download the ZIP-archive with FXSSI.TradingSessions indicator file by clicking the link at the top of the page;
- Unzip the file into the MQL4/indicators folder of your terminal;
- Restart the MT4 terminal;
- Run the indicator by double clicking the indicator name in the MT4 Navigator;
- Check the "Allow DLL imports" box and click "OK";
- The indicator will be displayed on the chart;
- Adjust the indicator’s settings according to your needs: press CTRL+I, select the indicator from the list, and switch to the "Inputs" tab.
If you have any difficulties while installing the indicator, please view the detailed instruction.
