Currency Strength Meter (live)

What is a currency strength meter?

A currency strength meter measures how strong each major currency is against all the others at the same time. Instead of looking at one pair such as EUR/USD, the currency strength meter compares the US dollar, euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, Canadian dollar and Swiss franc across every pair they trade in. The result is one simple score per currency, from 0 (very weak) to 10 (very strong).

The live currency strength meter above is calculated by the Alice server from real forex prices. It updates every minute, and you can switch between the 1-hour, 4-hour and daily view.

How to read the currency strength meter

• Above 6: the currency is being bought across the board. Look for it on the buy side of a pair.
• Below 4: the currency is being sold across the board. Look for it on the sell side.
• Between 4 and 6: no clear direction. Pairs made of two "middle" currencies tend to range.

The classic way to use a currency strength meter is to pair the strongest currency with the weakest one. If the meter shows GBP at 8.1 and JPY at 2.3, GBP/JPY is the pair where buyers and sellers agree, so trends tend to be cleaner and last longer. The idea box above the meter does this for you automatically.

Currency strength meter strategy in four steps

1. Start with the daily view. It shows the bigger story. A currency that is strong on the daily and the 4-hour currency strength meter is in a real trend.
2. Confirm on the 4-hour and 1-hour view. When all three timeframes agree, the setup is stronger.
3. Check the chart of the pair. Open the pair in the Alice scanner: the score from 0 to 100 should agree with the direction of the currency strength meter.
4. Time the entry with the forex peak hours. Strength without volume often fades. Enter during the London session or the London and New York overlap.

Remember that a currency strength meter shows what has already happened. It is a filter, not a crystal ball: always place a stop loss and size the trade with the position size calculator.

Forex peak hours: when is the forex market busiest?

Forex trades 24 hours a day, five days a week, but volume is not spread evenly. The forex peak hours are when two big financial centres are open at the same time:

The live session clock above converts the forex peak hours into your own time zone and follows daylight saving time automatically, so the times stay correct all year. Outside the forex peak hours spreads are wider and breakouts fail more often.

Crypto peak hours: when does Bitcoin move most?

The crypto market never closes, but it still has crypto peak hours. The chart above shows Bitcoin and crypto trading volume for every hour of the day, measured from real exchange data. In most weeks:

• Crypto peak hours fall during the US session, especially the first hours after Wall Street opens, when US stock traders and ETFs are active.
• The London morning is the second busy window.
• The quietest crypto hours are usually late in the US evening and on weekends, when volume can drop to around half of a normal weekday.

Big moves can happen at any hour in crypto, but breakouts during the crypto peak hours are more often followed through, while moves in quiet hours are easier to reverse.

Why combine currency strength with peak hours?

The best trades usually line up three things: direction (from the currency strength meter or the scanner score), timing (forex peak hours or crypto peak hours) and risk (a stop loss and a fixed risk per trade). The Alice web app shows all three in one place: the scanner score, the currency strength meter, the session clock and the economic calendar with high-impact news.