Bank holidays & trading

Hi folks

Just wanted to clarify something in regards to holidays...

If there is bank holiday in, let's say, the UK, should I avoid trading that day altogether, or just avoid trading any currency cross with the pound in it?

I guess what I'm really asking is, do traders generally avoid trading altogether on holidays in the UK, US, Japan etc, or just avoid the relevant crosses?

Also, if there is a UK or US bank holiday, does London or New York still trade? The answer to that may solve my questions above...

Regards, Jim

Yea, altho sometimes trading is light that session.

Thanks, Rabid, that sort of answers my questions, but not really...

Regards, Jim

Last I checked the UK doesn't celebrate the 4th of July - though US markets will be closed , the London and Asian markets will be open. As rabid said - the liquidity may be down.
Only Christmas and New Years do you have real closure as Xmas is celebrated in both Europe and US so both markets are closed. New Years they are all closed.

It's a bit risky to have open positions during Christmas, with such a low liquidity a single large trader and move the market a lot, causing price spikes and easy stop hunts.

I see...

So as a general rule, I should avoid trading on days when there is a holiday in the UK or US, or both!

What about holidays in Japan, Eurozone etc? Do I still trade but avoid JPY and EUR?

Regards, Jim

Last set of US bank holidays I took off (well, 4th of july). Last set of EU and UK bank holidays I kept trading, just traded the US session. I remember them being a bit slow, but I had a good trade on the EURUSD. There's no hard&fast rule here, just do whatever you feel is right. For me... if a setup occurs during a holiday I'll take it all the same.

just remember forex is 24 hours in 5 day
anything can happen..
be smart

That's a good point. You should treat holidays same as when you did your backtesting.
BTW that's a smart idea to have all fundamentals marked on your charts...

With all the bank, political, religious, and other miscellaneous holdiays that range from 15-30 per major country, if you avoid trading on all of them there wouldn't be many "holiday-free" days on the trading calendar.

I say don't worry -- just trade. If your trading system is robust you will be able to handle it.

Regards.