“What’s the best time to trade?” is probably the question most often answered with guesswork in all of trading. Every guru has their magic table, almost always copied from another guru. We preferred to ask the data: we built a grid of 1,296 combinations of hours, days and expiry, and judged each one by the harshest possible criterion — the FLOOR across 3 validation windows (that is, every configuration is judged by its worst result, not its best, to eliminate lucky selection). What survived that funnel is what you’ll read here: hours that confirmed an edge in both windows, a “mirage hour” that would have fooled any naive backtest, the day of the week that turned into a trap, a popular myth debunked — and the final honest configuration, with a number instead of a promise. All times below are given in BRT (the study’s original timezone, UTC-3) with the SAST equivalent (BRT+5) for South African traders.

How the study was done (full methodology)

A methodological detail that makes all the difference: with 1,296 combinations, some will always shine by pure chance — that’s basic statistics. That’s why every combination was ranked by the floor of the 3 windows: the worst performance among them. An hour only makes the final list if it worked in all windows, including the fresh one. It’s the antidote to the lucky selection that contaminates 99% of the “trading hours tables” on the internet.

The strong hours: a short morning and a long evening (BRT / SAST)

Two time bands confirmed an edge in both validation windows: 09:00-10:00 BRT (14:00-15:00 SAST) and 18:00-23:00 BRT (23:00-04:00 SAST). The highlights, with the result in both windows (test → fresh window):

Hour (BRT / SAST)	Test → Fresh window	Verdict
18:00 BRT / 23:00 SAST	67% → 77%	Strong in both windows
23:00 BRT / 04:00 SAST	68% → 68%	Strong and stable
21:00 BRT / 02:00 SAST	confirmed in both windows	Strong
09:00-10:00 BRT / 14:00-15:00 SAST	62% → 58-65%	Strong
16:00 BRT / 21:00 SAST	65% → 40%	UNSTABLE — mirage hour
07:00, 00:00, 04:00-05:00 BRT (12:00, 05:00, 09:00-10:00 SAST)	worst of the grid	Avoid

The whole afternoon, from 11:00 to 17:00 BRT (16:00 to 22:00 SAST), dilutes the edge — not a disaster, but it drags the average down. And the case of 16:00 BRT (21:00 SAST) deserves a frame: 65% in the test, 40% in the fresh window. A single-window backtest would have put that hour on the “golden hours” list — and that mirage hour would have devoured the profit from the good hours. It’s exactly the kind of trap that floor-based validation exists to catch. The worst hours on the grid were 07:00, 00:00 and the 04:00-05:00 stretch BRT (12:00, 05:00 and 09:00-10:00 SAST) — and remember, the middle of the night is exactly when many signal rooms push OTC, a problem we dissect in OTC is a random walk.

Days of the week: Tuesday and Thursday lead — and Friday became a trap

By day of the week, Tuesday and Thursday were the best days, at around ~57% accuracy. The warning came from Friday: performance deteriorated in the fresh window, dropping to 48.8% — below even a coin flip, and well below the 53.5% break-even. The data’s recommendation is blunt: avoid Friday. Monday to Thursday make up the trading window; Friday stays out.

Myth debunked: the “safe hours” filter

There’s a near-universal belief in binaries: “block the news hours, only trade the safe hours”. We tested the filter. Result: for mean-reversion strategies, the safe-hours filter was neutral to negative — and it also cut 22% of the trades. In other words: you give up a fifth of your volume (and volume is what turns edge into results) to gain nothing in return, or even to do worse.

Expiry: 2 candles beat 1

Another counterintuitive finding: the same signal, measured 2 minutes ahead, is more accurate than measured 1 minute ahead. In the numbers across the two windows: 2-candle expiry scored 60.8% / 58.7%, versus 57.5% / 57.4% for 1-candle expiry. The explanation fits the strategy’s mechanism: post-exhaustion reversal is not instantaneous — it takes 2-3 minutes to materialise. With a 1-candle expiry, you’re frequently right on direction and wrong on the stopwatch.

The final honest configuration

Note the tone: we’re not promising 70%, we’re promising the floor — 59.2% was this configuration’s worst result across the windows, and the realistic live expectation sits between 57% and 60%. Above the 53.5% break-even, that is real edge; we explain why this range is the honest ceiling of M1 in the study 70% win rate is a myth. And none of this survives without risk management: a good window is not a licence to size up, and martingale remains the fastest way to turn a 59% win rate into a zeroed account.

If you’d rather automate this trading window than watch the clock — especially since the strong evening band runs late into the SAST night — you can set up time filters in a bot: see the Deriv Bot no-coding guide or browse our reviews for South African traders.

FAQ — Hours and days to trade

What’s the best time to trade forex M1? In our data: 09:00-10:59 and 18:00-23:59 BRT — that’s 14:00-15:59 and 23:00-04:59 SAST — with highlights at 18:00 BRT / 23:00 SAST (67% → 77%) and 23:00 BRT / 04:00 SAST (68% → 68%) across both validation windows.

What’s the worst day of the week? Friday, which dropped to 48.8% in the fresh window — below break-even. Tuesday and Thursday were the best days (~57%).

Should I avoid news hours? For mean reversion, the “safe hours” filter was neutral to negative and cut 22% of trades. Better to use a positive list of good hours.

1-candle or 2-candle expiry? 2 candles: 60.8/58.7 versus 57.5/57.4 across the two windows. Post-exhaustion reversal takes 2-3 minutes to play out.

Do these hours apply to OTC? No. OTC has no sessions and no real liquidity — our tests showed ~50% on everything, at any hour.

Read next

→ I Tested 20 Strategies on 45 Days of Real Data: 70% Win Rate Is a Myth
→ OTC Is a Random Walk: The Proof With Data (and Where Real Edge Exists)
→ Deriv Bot: How to Create Trading Bots Without Coding
→ Deriv Review 2026: Is It Safe for South African Traders?
→ All Broker Reviews for South Africa

Disclaimer: binary options and derivatives are extremely high-risk products and most retail traders lose money. This content is strictly educational and does not constitute investment advice, an offer or financial advice. The results presented come from a statistical study on historical data and do not guarantee future results. This article contains affiliate links. Always test on a demo account before risking real money, and never trade with money you cannot afford to lose.