Most active trading hours - currency pairs Forex markets

 Most Active Currency Pairs and Trading Hours

The most active USD trading hours are from London's opening market hours (2:00AM ET / 6:00 GMT) due to London's strength in international markets and the typical time of release for U.S. Economic news (8:30AM ET/ 12:30 GMT).

FX Turnover by Currency Pair
        2004    2007
EUR/USD    28%    27%
USD/JPY    17%    13%
GBP/USD    14%    12%
AUD/USD    5%    6%
USD/CHF    4%    5%
USD/CAD    4%    4%
Factors that affect the U.S Dollar when trading

1. Interest Rates are Very Important for the Dollar. Take a look at how USD/JPY tracks the 3 Month LIBOR rate for the U.S.

2. Many Commodities are Priced in Dollars, so when the dollar rises, commodity prices fall:
The inverted dollar versus the price of oil?
The inverted dollar versus the price of oil?

3. Dollar Strength or Weakness frequently dominate the currency market on one given day, so know the risks of correlated positions! On March 21st the dollar strengthened against every single G10 currency.