Forex Market Hours
The forex market is open 24 hours a day, from Sunday 17:00 to Friday 17:00 New York time, passing through four sessions: Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York. See which are open right now in your time zone, when they overlap, and how daylight saving time moves them.
Current time
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Trading sessions now
| Session | Status | City time | Local hours | Your time | Changes in | Most active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | — | --:-- | 07:00–16:00 | --:-- | — | AUD, NZD |
| Tokyo | — | --:-- | 08:00–17:00 | --:-- | — | JPY, AUD, NZD |
| London | — | --:-- | 08:00–17:00 | --:-- | — | EUR, GBP, CHF |
| New York | — | --:-- | 08:00–17:00 | --:-- | — | USD, CAD |
24-hour session map
Bars show each session's 08:00–17:00 local hours (Sydney 07:00–16:00), converted with each city's own daylight-saving rules. Hatched areas = weekend, when the market is closed. Overlaps are when two sessions are open at once. Weekly open/close follows New York (America/New_York) 17:00.
Forex session times (UTC and local)
Each session runs 08:00–17:00 in its own city (Sydney 07:00–16:00). Because the US, UK and Australia change clocks on different dates, the UTC times differ between the two halves of the year.
November to March (northern winter)
New York on EST (UTC−5), London on GMT (UTC+0), Sydney on AEDT (UTC+11).
| Session | UTC | New York | London | Tokyo | Sydney |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 20:00–05:00 | 15:00–00:00 | 20:00–05:00 | 05:00–14:00 | 07:00–16:00 |
| Tokyo | 23:00–08:00 | 18:00–03:00 | 23:00–08:00 | 08:00–17:00 | 10:00–19:00 |
| London | 08:00–17:00 | 03:00–12:00 | 08:00–17:00 | 17:00–02:00 | 19:00–04:00 |
| New York | 13:00–22:00 | 08:00–17:00 | 13:00–22:00 | 22:00–07:00 | 00:00–09:00 |
April to October (northern summer)
New York on EDT (UTC−4), London on BST (UTC+1), Sydney on AEST (UTC+10).
| Session | UTC | New York | London | Tokyo | Sydney |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 21:00–06:00 | 17:00–02:00 | 22:00–07:00 | 06:00–15:00 | 07:00–16:00 |
| Tokyo | 23:00–08:00 | 19:00–04:00 | 00:00–09:00 | 08:00–17:00 | 09:00–18:00 |
| London | 07:00–16:00 | 03:00–12:00 | 08:00–17:00 | 16:00–01:00 | 17:00–02:00 |
| New York | 12:00–21:00 | 08:00–17:00 | 13:00–22:00 | 21:00–06:00 | 22:00–07:00 |
Week opens Sunday 17:00 New York (Sydney, Monday morning) and closes Friday 17:00 New York. Times are 24-hour; a range like 20:00–05:00 runs past midnight.
Quick answer
Forex trades 24 hours a day from Sunday 17:00 to Friday 17:00 New York time. The busiest window is the London–New York overlap, 08:00–12:00 New York time (13:00–17:00 UTC in winter, 12:00–16:00 UTC in summer).
What are the forex trading sessions?
There is no central exchange for currencies. Forex is traded over the counter between banks, brokers, funds and companies, so the "market" is open whenever a major financial centre is at work. As the business day moves around the globe, activity hands over from one centre to the next. Traders group those hours into four sessions named after the cities that dominate them:
- Sydney opens the week. It is the quietest session; AUD and NZD pairs see most of their local flow here.
- Tokyo (the Asian session, alongside Singapore and Hong Kong) brings the yen to life. USD/JPY, EUR/JPY and AUD/JPY get their first real volume of the day.
- London is the largest FX centre in the world. Its open usually brings the day's first big moves in EUR, GBP and CHF pairs.
- New York overlaps London for four hours and carries most US economic data releases (typically at 08:30 and 10:00 New York time).
According to the Bank for International Settlements' Triennial Survey, the UK and the US together account for well over half of global FX turnover, which is why the hours when both are open matter more than any other part of the day.
How we define session hours
Session times are a convention, not an official schedule, and websites disagree by an hour here and there. Here is ours, and why:
- Each session is fixed in its city's local time: Tokyo, London and New York 08:00–17:00, Sydney 07:00–16:00. A business day in each city then follows that city's own daylight saving rules, which is how the people trading there actually experience it. Tables that fix every session in New York or GMT time are wrong by an hour for several weeks each year.
- The week opens Sunday 17:00 and closes Friday 17:00 New York time, the standard rollover used by FX dealers and retail brokers. Sydney's 07:00 start matches the weekly open during the northern summer. In the Australian summer, Monday 07:00 in Sydney comes before the market opens, so we start Monday's Sydney session at the weekly open.
- Times use the IANA time-zone database built into your browser (Australia/Sydney, Asia/Tokyo, Europe/London, America/New_York), so they stay correct across every clock change without manual updates.
Session overlaps: when liquidity peaks
An overlap is a period when two sessions are open at the same time. Overlaps tend to bring the most volume, the tightest spreads and the largest intraday moves.
- London–New York, 08:00–12:00 New York time. This is the most liquid window of the day for EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/CHF and USD/CAD, and it often includes major US data. It stretches to five hours (08:00–13:00 New York) during the DST gap weeks described below.
- Tokyo–London, about one hour (07:00–08:00 UTC) from April to October. In the northern winter Tokyo closes just as London opens, so there is effectively no overlap, but the London open still lifts JPY crosses such as EUR/JPY and GBP/JPY.
- Sydney–Tokyo, roughly six to seven hours across the Asian morning. Volume is moderate; AUD/JPY, AUD/USD and NZD/USD are the most active pairs.
Best time to trade each currency pair
A pair is most active when the financial centres of both of its currencies are open. Use these as starting points, then confirm against your own data on spreads and volatility:
| Pairs | Most active | Why |
|---|---|---|
| EUR/USD, GBP/USD | London and the London–NY overlap | Both currencies' home markets open; most data and volume |
| USD/JPY | Tokyo, then New York | Japanese exporters and importers in Asia, then US data and flows |
| EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY | Late Tokyo into the London open | European and Japanese flows meet |
| AUD/USD, NZD/USD | Sydney and Tokyo, plus New York for US data | Australian and NZ data releases come out in the Asian morning |
| USD/CAD | New York | Canadian data (08:30 New York) and oil-market hours |
| EUR/GBP, EUR/CHF | London | All the currencies' home markets are in Europe |
Quiet hours are not automatically bad, but they cost more to trade. Spreads widen when fewer dealers are quoting, so a strategy that works in the London–New York overlap can lose its edge in late New York or early Sydney. If you trade outside the main sessions, check the spread with the pip value calculator and size the trade with the position size calculator so a wider stop doesn't mean bigger risk.
Gold, indices and other CFD hours
The clock above shows spot currency sessions. Other instruments that sit on the same trading platforms follow their own schedules:
- Gold (XAU/USD). COMEX gold futures on CME Globex trade Sunday to Friday, 18:00–17:00 New York time, with a 60-minute break each day from 17:00. Most broker gold CFDs follow a similar pattern, so expect a daily pause around the New York rollover.
- US stock indices. The cash session for the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and Dow is 09:30–16:00 New York time. Index CFDs usually track the futures, which trade almost around the clock on weekdays with a daily break, so "US500" can move at 03:00 New York time while the stock market is shut. Liquidity and spreads are best during the cash session.
- Other CFDs. Oil, European and Asian indices, and single stocks each have their own hours. CFD trading hours vary by broker; the contract specification on your platform is the authority.
Broker platforms often show a server time such as GMT+2 (GMT+3 in summer), chosen so that the daily candle closes at 17:00 New York. The sessions do not change; only the labels on your chart do.
The weekend gap
Between Friday 17:00 and Sunday 17:00 New York time there is no spot FX trading, but news keeps coming: elections, central-bank comments, geopolitical events. When Sydney opens, the first price can be well away from Friday's close. Stop-loss orders cannot fill inside that gap. They fill at the first available price, which can be worse than the level you set. If you hold positions over the weekend, size them for a gap, not only for your stop distance, and check the margin calculator to make sure a gap won't push the account toward a margin call. Liquidity is also thin in the first hour after the Sunday open, so spreads are often several times wider than normal.
Daylight saving time: how session times shift
Three different sets of clock-change rules affect forex hours. Japan does not use daylight saving time. Each change moves that city's session by one hour in UTC, and in your local time unless your own clocks changed on the same day.
| Region | Rule | 2026 | 2027 | Effect in UTC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 2nd Sunday of March to 1st Sunday of November | Fwd 8 MarBack 1 Nov | Fwd 14 MarBack 7 Nov | New York session moves from 13:00 to 12:00 UTC in March and back in November. The weekly open and close move with it (22:00 or 21:00 UTC). |
| UK & Europe | Last Sunday of March to last Sunday of October | Fwd 29 MarBack 25 Oct | Fwd 28 MarBack 31 Oct | London session moves from 08:00 to 07:00 UTC in March and back to 08:00 in October. |
| Australia (NSW) | 1st Sunday of October to 1st Sunday of April | Fwd 4 OctBack 5 Apr | Fwd 3 OctBack 4 Apr | Sydney session moves from 21:00 to 20:00 UTC (previous day) in October and back to 21:00 in April. |
The awkward weeks are the gaps between the US and UK changes. In those weeks New York is already on (or still on) summer time while London is not, so London opens at 04:00 New York time instead of 03:00, and the London–New York overlap runs five hours instead of four. In 2026: 8 Mar–29 Mar and 25 Oct–1 Nov; In 2027: 14 Mar–28 Mar and 31 Oct–7 Nov. Australia moves the other way, so Sydney and Tokyo shift relative to London twice a year as well. The live clock applies all of this automatically. If you set alarms for session opens, check them in March, April, October and November.
Holidays and thin markets
This clock does not model bank holidays. On days such as Christmas, New Year's Day, Good Friday and Japanese Golden Week the market rarely shuts completely, but volume can collapse. Many brokers close early or trade with wider spreads, and some instruments do not trade at all. A US holiday (for example Thanksgiving or Independence Day) leaves the New York session thin even though London traded normally that morning. Check your broker's holiday notices before planning around those dates.
Frequently asked questions
What time does the forex market open?
The forex market opens for the week on Sunday at 17:00 New York time, when the Sydney session starts. That is 22:00 UTC from November to March and 21:00 UTC from mid-March to early November, when the US is on daylight saving time. It closes on Friday at 17:00 New York time.
Is the forex market open 24 hours?
Yes, 24 hours a day, five days a week. Trading passes from Sydney to Tokyo to London to New York without a break from Sunday evening to Friday evening (New York time). Liquidity is thin around the 17:00 New York daily rollover, where spreads widen and many brokers pause for a few minutes.
What is the best time to trade forex?
For most major pairs it is the London–New York overlap, 08:00 to 12:00 New York time (13:00–17:00 UTC in winter, 12:00–16:00 UTC in summer). Both of the biggest FX centres are open, so volume is highest and spreads are usually tightest. The best time for a specific pair depends on its currencies: JPY pairs are active in Tokyo, AUD and NZD in Sydney and Tokyo.
When does the London session open in New York time?
London opens at 08:00 London time, which is 03:00 in New York for most of the year. For about three weeks in March and one week around the end of October, the US is on daylight saving time while the UK is not, and London opens at 04:00 New York time.
What time does the New York session open in GMT?
The New York session opens at 08:00 New York time: 13:00 GMT/UTC from November to mid-March, and 12:00 GMT/UTC from mid-March to early November. It closes at 17:00 New York time, 22:00 or 21:00 UTC.
Is the forex market open on weekends?
No. Spot forex is closed from Friday 17:00 to Sunday 17:00 New York time. Prices can open on Sunday evening at a different level from Friday's close (a weekend gap) if news broke over the weekend. Some brokers offer weekend quotes on synthetic or crypto products, but not on regular currency pairs.
Does daylight saving time change forex market hours?
It changes them in UTC and in your local time, but not in each city's own time. The US, the UK and Australia change clocks on different dates, so for a few weeks each spring and autumn the sessions shift by an hour relative to each other. This clock applies each city's own rules automatically.
Is the forex market open on holidays?
The interbank market rarely closes completely, but liquidity drops sharply on major bank holidays, especially Christmas and New Year, when many brokers shorten hours or close. A holiday in one centre (for example a US holiday) thins trading in that session. Check your broker's holiday schedule.
Education only. Session times show when liquidity is usually higher, not when a trade will work. CFDs and leveraged forex are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 74–89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with the brokers listed here. Consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Nothing on this page is financial advice.
Sources: session convention and weekly open/close as used by major retail FX brokers (Sunday 17:00 to Friday 17:00 New York); daylight saving dates from the IANA time-zone database; gold futures hours from CME Group's COMEX gold contract specifications; turnover share from the BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey. Local session hours shown: Sydney 07:00–16:00, Tokyo 08:00–17:00, London 08:00–17:00, New York 08:00–17:00.