The Best Times of Day to Trade 6S Swiss Franc Futures
Most traders waste time trying to trade 6S when it’s dead. This contract only moves cleanly during specific windows. If you know those windows, you trade its trends. If you ignore them, you get stuck in low-vol chop that grinds your account down one tick at a time.
1. The European Open — The Most Important Window
6S is a European currency. That means real liquidity hits when Europe wakes up. The European session open consistently produces:
- cleanest volatility
- most displacement
- best break-and-retest structures
- low spread + high volume
This is where the bulk of 6S day ranges form. If you only traded this window, you’d avoid 70% of the garbage price action.
2. Pre-U.S. Session: Continuation or Reversal Setup
The hour leading into the U.S. session often gives a second wave of volatility. You normally see either:
- continuation of the European trend
- a liquidity sweep and reversal into NY volume
6S pulls most of its direction from risk sentiment, and the U.S. cash session dictates global risk appetite. Expect the structure from Europe to either confirm or unwind here.
3. U.S. Session Open — News + Volume Combo
This is the second-best time to trade 6S. Even though CHF is European, the USD half of the pair is driven by U.S. markets. At the NY open you get:
- volume surge
- dollar strength/weakness confirmation
- macro news spillover
- clean reversals off morning liquidity grabs
If you’ve already posted your correlations article, this ties directly into it — U.S. equities, gold, and yields fully wake up at NY open and move 6S with them.
4. Major Economic Releases — The Only Time 6S Explodes
6S normally crawls. But when big U.S. or SNB-related data drops, the thing actually moves:
- NFP
- CPI
- PPI
- FOMC
- SNB rate decisions
These are the only times 6S behaves like 6E or 6B with real range and real speed. If you want volatility in 6S, you trade news days.
5. Dead Zones: Times You Should Avoid Trading 6S
There are hours where 6S is straight-up untradeable unless you enjoy pain:
- Late U.S. afternoon
- Asian session (except crisis events)
- Post-lunch U.S. session drag
These windows have weak volume, no displacement, and tons of fake micro-swings. A bot would trade better than a human here, and the bot would still lose.
Final Takeaway: 6S Rewards Timing, Not Grinding
6S Swiss Franc futures only produce meaningful moves during the European session, U.S. open, and major economic releases. Everything else is low-volatility noise. Trade the windows that matter and ignore the rest if you want consistent results instead of random scalps in dead liquidity.