Friday-Saturday Weekends and the Gulf Trader's Calendar

[Shadow Trader]

Weekend structure in the Gulf region has not been uniform. Several countries have long observed Friday and Saturday as days off, while others, including the United Arab Emirates since a change in 2022, moved toward a Saturday and Sunday weekend with a shortened Friday. Current arrangements should be confirmed through each country's official announcements.

Global spot FX follows none of these calendars. Trading pauses late Friday in New York and resumes Sunday evening in the Asia-Pacific region, wherever a participant happens to live. A trader in a Friday-Saturday country therefore sees an active market on a personal day off, then a closed market on a Sunday that is an ordinary working day locally.

Local holidays add another layer. Islamic holidays such as Eid follow the lunar calendar, so their dates shift each year and are confirmed only shortly beforehand. Local banks and payment providers may close for several days while charts keep moving, which can delay deposits and withdrawals at exactly the time a trader expects to be able to act.

The practical lesson is to keep two calendars: the market calendar in UTC, and a local calendar of bank closures. Planning withdrawals ahead of known holidays avoids confusing a processing delay with a broker problem.