Trading Sessions in Your Time Zone

By Brendon, a trader for 15 years and the maker of Stopline Trade Manager. Updated 21 October 2026.

Four Cities, One Rule

Each session is a working day in its own city: 08:00 to 17:00 by the local clock, Monday to Friday. The trading day starts in Sydney and follows the sun west. Sydney and Tokyo together are often called the Asian session.

1. 9 hSydney08:00 to 17:00 localUTC+10, or UTC+11 on summer time, first Sunday of October to first Sunday of April
2. 9 hTokyo08:00 to 17:00 localUTC+9 all year: Tokyo never changes its clocks
3. 9 hLondon08:00 to 17:00 localUTC, or UTC+1 on summer time, last Sunday of March to last Sunday of October
4. 9 hNew York08:00 to 17:00 localUTC-5, or UTC-4 on summer time, second Sunday of March to first Sunday of November

Some tables pin the sessions to New York time instead, Sydney at 17:00 to 02:00 and Tokyo at 19:00 to 04:00. Those hours drift against a city's own day whenever a city changes its clocks. Both are conventions: no authority fixes the sessions, and your broker's hours are the ones that count for your orders.

Session Times in 17 Time Zones

Each session's open and close for a week in July, when Europe and the United States are on summer time, and a week in January. (-1) is the day before the city's own date, (+1) the day after. For any other zone or week, use the graph above. India, Pakistan and Nigeria each have a page of their own, linked from their rows, with the weeks the hours shift there.

The London and New York Overlap

For four hours both cities are open: 08:00 to 12:00 in New York, 13:00 to 17:00 in London. Pick the weeks:

• Sydney + Tokyo share seven or eight hours of the Asian morning.
• Tokyo + London overlap for an hour in northern summer and not at all in northern winter.

Why the Hours Matter

When two centres are open at once, more banks and traders are quoting, and a market order usually finds a counterparty more easily. The Bank for International Settlements counted the currency market in April 2025:

That is why the London and New York hours are usually the most active. Most active is not the same as right for your strategy, though, and the spread you pay is set by your broker, symbol by symbol.

Spreads often look wider when few dealers are quoting, around the daily rollover for example. Watch your own broker's spread at the hours you trade.

Source: BIS Triennial Survey, press release of 30 September 2025. The 37 % is the 75 % less the United Kingdom's 38 %.

The Weekly Open and Close

The currency market has no opening bell, but it has a weekend. By convention the week opens on Sunday at 17:00 and closes on Friday at 17:00, New York time. Brokers open and close their servers close to those times, not always exactly at them.

In UTC the week opens at 21:00 while New York is on summer time and at 22:00 while it is on standard time. A session that would start before the weekly open is drawn from the open: Sydney's Monday morning, when New York is on standard time and Sydney on summer time.

Futures Keep Their Own Hours

Currency, gold and index futures trade on CME Globex, the electronic market of CME Group. Its hours are set by the exchange, not by a city's working day, and the graph above shows them on their own lane.

Your broker's gold and index symbols keep the broker's own hours, which can differ from the exchange's. The Specification window lists them: see Check It in MetaTrader below.

Hours from CME Group's contract specifications for Euro FX, Gold and E-mini S&P 500 futures on CME Globex, read 20 October 2026. Holiday hours differ: CME Group Holiday and Trading Hours.

Daylight Saving Weeks

Three of the four cities change their clocks, each on its own dates. Tokyo never does, and Chicago changes with New York. For a few weeks each spring and autumn the gaps between the cities are an hour off, and the graph shows a note on those days.

1. Out of step from 4 October to 1 November 2026

   1. Sunday 4 October 2026Sydney moves to summer time (UTC+11)
   2. Sunday 25 October 2026London goes back to standard time (UTC)
   3. Sunday 1 November 2026New York goes back to standard time (UTC-5)

2. Out of step from 14 March to 4 April 2027

   1. Sunday 14 March 2027New York moves to summer time (UTC-4)
   2. Sunday 28 March 2027London moves to summer time (UTC+1)
   3. Sunday 4 April 2027Sydney goes back to standard time (UTC+10)

3. Out of step from 3 October to 7 November 2027

   1. Sunday 3 October 2027Sydney moves to summer time (UTC+11)
   2. Sunday 31 October 2027London goes back to standard time (UTC)
   3. Sunday 7 November 2027New York goes back to standard time (UTC-5)

On the day the clocks change a day has 23 or 25 hours, and the graph shows which hour is missing or happens twice. The dates come from the IANA time zone database, read through your browser, so the graph follows the rules in every year.

Broker Server Time and the Daily Candle

Holidays

Check It in MetaTrader

Market Watch (Ctrl+M) › right-click the symbol › Specification

The Sessions rows show each weekday's trading hours in server time. Compare two symbols:

EURUSDXAUUSD

On this server Sunday is empty: the week starts on Monday at 00:00 server time. MetaTrader 4 opens its Contract Specification window the same way; if a symbol's hours are not shown there, your broker's website lists them. Every row of the window is explained in Symbol Specification in MT5 and MT4.

Pictures: MetaTrader 5 on MetaQuotes' demo server, 20 October 2026, the Quotes column left out. Source: MetaTrader 5 help, Market Watch, read 20 October 2026.

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