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The best time to trade crypto depends on several factors that can significantly impact your trading strategy. Volatility is the hallmark of the cryptocurrency market, making it an ideal playground for traders who can time the market well.

However, inexperienced traders may need help navigating the market’s unpredictability, which can quickly lead to losses. Understanding the factors determining the best time to trade crypto can increase your chances of generating a return on investment (ROI) on your crypto trading activities. Keep reading to learn more.

Best time of day to trade cryptocurrency

The market never sleeps.

Unlike traditional markets, the crypto market stays open 24/7, even during public holidays. Crypto trading hours, however, can have higher or lower levels of activity.

While there are no true ‘crypto market hours’, the activities in cryptocurrency markets ebb and flow. With over 10,000 digital currencies and tokens present in the market and hundreds of crypto exchanges, the trading activity can be more lucrative at some times than others.

A number of things affect the rise and fall of trading activities in the cryptocurrency market.

Liquidity plays a huge role in the volume of trading in cryptocurrency markets. Since banks and traditional financial institutions close on weekends and public holidays, there’s a possibility that trading activities dip on weekends, which can affect market prices.

The current market sentiment can also influence trading volumes and the number of participants in the market. The influence of popular celebrities like Elon Musk also needs to be taken into consideration, as their statements can move the crypto markets. Government regulators making announcements is another factor that affects prices, as they have a large impact on the current and future state of the crypto markets.

What session is best to trade crypto?

3 – 4 PM UTC (Universal Standard Time) is when crypto trading tends to see the highest volume, and this is because crypto interacts and overlaps with other major financial markets.

Here are the opening times for the world’s three biggest stock markets and how they overlap with crypto.

Market	Opening Time	Closing Time	Busiest Time
New York	2:30 PM UTC	9 PM UTC	2:30 PM to 5 PM UTC
London	8 AM UTC	4:30 PM	9 AM to 11 AM UTC
Tokyo	12 AM UTC	6 AM UTC	12 AM to 2 AM UTC

As you can see, traders from New York and London are active simultaneously. During the winter (standard time), the overlap between these two markets is 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM UTC, and during the summer (daylight savings time), the overlap is 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM.

All of those traders being active during the same time period causes higher liquidity, higher trading volumes, and thus greater opportunities during trading hours, and these opportunities spill out into the crypto market as well, meaning cryptocurrency hours sync up with stock trading hours.

Trading volume can also increase during Tokyo stock exchange trading hours which are several hours apart from the US/London overlap.

What is the best time to trade crypto in US?

The best time to trade crypto in the US is approximately 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM UTC (or an hour earlier during daylight savings time), due to the overlap between the London and New York stock exchange opening hours. Crypto is international, meaning that the high volume times are the same worldwide.

Trading in this time frame is by no means an absolute rule, and many strategies and market events will not necessarily rely on the trader being active during this time.

However, crypto trading volumes are typically highest during this time, and as seen in the previous section, this can be beneficial to those looking for more liquidity and opportunities in the market.

Are weekdays or weekends better for trading crypto?

Weekdays typically see higher trading volumes than weekends. Again, this is likely influenced by global stock market trading hours, with the busiest time being late afternoon (UTC). Many professional traders trade crypto as well as other assets, and they do so during their fixed working hours, making weekdays the optimal time to trade in the crypto market.

It’s not universally the case that higher trading volumes are “better” for trading, and depending on your own strategy, you may have a reason to ignore or work outside of these hours. However, it is true that higher trading volume can create higher volatility, causing the kind of price swings that crypto traders aim to capitalize on while swing trading or day trading.

What day is the best for trading crypto?

The best day to trade is often said to be Tuesday due to the market settling after the weekend and institutional traders ramping up their activity. Monday often sees lower trading volumes due to the market ‘waking up’ from the weekend and digesting any news or events that took place during that time.

Tuesday to Thursday are perhaps the best days to trade crypto due to heightened activity from traders worldwide, bearing in mind that stock exchanges are closed on the weekends and mid-week activity is also highest at these exchanges. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday tend to have lower trading volumes than earlier in the week.

Again, while low volumes do not spell disaster for every crypto trading strategy, higher volumes can cause volatility to capitalize on as well as more trading opportunities overall.

When is the best time to trade crypto assets? 

The crypto market’s global and unresting nature is both a challenge and an opportunity for traders. A trader who knows the best time to trade has a better chance of doing better than someone trading at random.

“The best time to trade will depend on several factors, including the cycle of the market, the exchange you’re using (either decentralized or centralized exchange), the type of trade you’re doing, which could be spot, futures, or options, as they all trade differently.”

For example, if you are using a decentralized exchange, one of the major things to watch out for is the gas fees on the blockchain you’re trading on. This can eat into your trading profits. Gas fees often rise on Ethereum, for instance, due to higher transaction volume, happening mostly during bull cycles.

Another key factor to consider when trading is the liquidity of the market. Liquidity means the ease with which a crypto asset can be traded for another asset or cash without losing its value. 

When trading volumes are low, volatility tends to be higher. That means the prices of crypto assets move quicker and larger, which will hurt a cryptocurrency trader and slow down execution for big trades.

Assistant professor of finance at Ohio State University in Columbus, Amin Shams, told CNBC that historically trades are lower on weekends, resulting in more volatility. 

What is the best time of the day to buy crypto?

Crypto trading activity reaches its peak roughly between 2:30 PM and 4:30 PM Universal Standard Time, as seen in our above table showing the overlap of UK and US stock exchange trading. High volume and price volatility make this the best time frame for crypto trading for many trading strategies, with 3:00 PM UTC being the best hour to trade crypto, according to this analysis.

When you take a look at the historical prices of cryptocurrencies, there’s often a pattern of price fluctuations on specific days. You can identify the hours when crypto has dipped or risen in the past and use that to make a decision. However, it’s important to also consider external conditions on that day that could affect the price.

An analysis by Fool.com showed that in October 2024, the best time of the day to purchase cryptocurrencies in the United States was in the afternoon.

What is the best time of the week to buy crypto?

Just like in the case of the best time of the day to buy cryptocurrency, you can know the best period to buy in a week. Weekends have been described as deceptive in price movements as trading volumes reduce, and traders leave the action for mid-week when there’s more volatility and opportunities to benefit from it.

According to a report from Bloomberg, professional traders prefer to buy crypto during the week rather than during the weekend. The market is reportedly less attractive on weekends, and a significant volume of the activities on weekends are from algorithmic trading bots and market makers.

However, for an investor looking to buy crypto, you might want to consider the days when prices are most likely going to be lower.

Data reveals that the best time of the week to buy crypto begins on Thursday. It shows that six in eight weeks saw a dip on Thursdays, and so suggests that the best time to make an investment was Thursday morning. However, the results were based on the data in 2022 when crypto winter has been causing significant and unpredictable price plunges so there were many deviations from this pattern.

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