USD/CAD: Daily Range, Character and Trading Hours
USD/CAD moves a median of 50 pips per day. Half of all days fall between 37 and 72 pips, and the widest day in our sample reached 244. Traders call it loonie. Every figure below comes from 518 daily bars covering 2024-07-29 to 2026-07-30.
USD/CAD character: how the pair behaves
USD/CAD is the most commodity-linked of the majors. Oil prices affect Canada's export revenue directly, so a move in crude usually shows up in the pair — though the relationship is a tendency, not a rule.
Measured daily range
- Median daily range: 50 pips
- Typical band (middle 80% of days): 37–72 pips
- Widest single day in sample: 244 pips
- Median close-to-close change: 26 pips; the largest 20% of days exceed 51
- Range of the pair over the whole period: 1.3421–1.4717, a span of 1296 pips
The gap between the median range and the widest day is the number worth remembering. A stop sized for a typical day is not a stop sized for the tail, and the tail is where accounts are damaged.
When it trades
North American hours. Both economies release data in the same window, and on some days US and Canadian employment figures land simultaneously.
Who it suits
Requires watching oil alongside the chart. Traders who ignore crude will regularly be surprised by moves that had an obvious cause.
Sizing a position on USD/CAD
The pair's risk is event-driven: oil inventories, and the days when US and Canadian employment land together. Position size should be reduced ahead of those specific events rather than uniformly across the month.
Data: 518 daily bars, 0 incomplete bars excluded. The sample is available for download and the method is described in how we run backtests. What actually moves this pair is covered separately in what drives USD/CAD.
This material is educational and is not individual investment advice. Trading forex carries the risk of losing capital.
Frequently asked questions
How does oil affect USD/CAD?
Higher crude prices raise Canadian export revenue and demand for the currency, which tends to push USD/CAD down. The link is economic rather than speculative, so it holds better than most cross-market correlations.
Can you trade USD/CAD purely off oil?
No. The relationship describes average behaviour, not every day. When the market focuses on Fed policy, the dollar side dominates and the pair can move against oil for weeks.
When is USD/CAD most volatile?
During North American hours, and especially on days when US and Canadian employment data are released simultaneously — two surprises that can compound or cancel.
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