The Best Times of Day to Trade 6A AUD/USD Futures

6A AUD/USD futures don’t move the same way all day. Liquidity, volatility, spreads, and catalysts shift across the Sydney, Tokyo, London, and New York sessions. If you don’t understand these windows, you’ll trade dead zones or miss the real moves.

Sydney open: the slow grind

The Sydney session is the quietest part of the entire trading day. Low volume, slow drift, and wider spreads. You’re basically trading leftovers from the U.S. close. Great for backfilling levels, terrible for big momentum plays.

If you’re not familiar with why low liquidity is dangerous, read the market liquidity basics guide.

Tokyo session: the first real action window

Once Tokyo opens, liquidity improves and 6A starts reacting to real catalysts:

  • China economic data drops
  • Asian equity market direction
  • Commodity market movement

Tokyo is cleaner, more structured, and usually gives the first actual tradable trend of the day.

London open: volatility jumps

London doesn’t care about the Aussie as much as Asia does, but FX volume floods in and 6A reacts anyway. This window often gives sharp breakouts, fakeouts, or trend accelerations depending on global sentiment.

London also sets the stage for New York’s follow-through.

New York session: the highest-impact window

This is where 6A sees its biggest moves. Why?

  • U.S. macro data releases
  • Fed speeches and expectations
  • DXY volatility
  • Risk-on/risk-off swings across equities and commodities

Because AUD/USD includes the U.S. dollar, anything that hits USD hits 6A immediately. This is the prime time for strong intraday moves.

If you want a deeper look at how data hits price, check out the economic report impact guide.

When NOT to trade 6A

Avoid:

  • Dead pre-Sydney drift
  • The CME maintenance window
  • Holiday sessions with missing Asia or U.S. volume
  • Minutes before major U.S. releases unless you’re intentionally trading volatility

These hours lack structure and will chop you up for no reason.

6A Only Moves When the World’s Awake

Tokyo, London, and New York sessions bring the volume and the catalysts — that’s when 6A actually trades. Early Sydney? It’s a ghost town. Timing your entries to real liquidity windows makes this contract far more predictable and far less painful.

Before you trade:

Knowing the best time won’t help if your size is wrong. Use the Position Size Risk Checker to see how much you're actually risking on every trade. And if you're tired of blowing up accounts with sloppy execution, grab Probabilistic Execution—written for traders who want to survive, not just look smart.