Are currency exchange markets a 24 hour thing ?

Question for dummies here.

You know with the stock exchange, trading goes on for say 9 hours a day, then it closes. A share price has an opening price, and a closing price, and there is no dealing outside working hours or at weekends.

Is it the same for currency markets ?

As an example, let's take Sterling - Euro.

The exchange rate changes every second during the working day as trades happen. Do the markets stay open during the night, are there trades going on at midnight and on Sundays ?

For example would it be a stupid question to ask what was the exchange rate between Euro Sterling at say 1:23am on Sunday 25 December ?

i would have guessed it is a 24 hour thing but its not really! If you want to buy sell currency as a normal joe soap you are going to have to go into a bank and buy/sell so you are stuck to banks opening housrs.

24 hours a day 7 days a week.

world time differences play a part, you can out a order in at a currency brokers ( limit/stop orders) which run 24/7 if you were buying a house abroad for example.

take note the FX industry is the largest market in the world, a trillion a day market.