The Sydney Session
Sydney is the smallest of the four sessions and the one most traders ignore. It matters for one reason above all others: it is where the trading week begins, and where weekend gaps get resolved.
Sydney session hours
| Time | |
|---|---|
| Local (Australia/Sydney) | 07:00 – 16:00 |
| UTC, Australian winter (AEST) | 21:00 – 06:00 |
| UTC, Australian summer (AEDT) | 20:00 – 05:00 |
| Overlaps with Tokyo | most of the session |
Australia's daylight saving runs opposite to the northern hemisphere: clocks go forward in October and back in April. So while London is gaining an hour in spring, Sydney is losing one. This is why the gap between Sydney and London swings by two hours across the year, and why a hard-coded Sydney session box is wrong more often than it is right.
Convert every session into your own timezone
Our free forex market hours clock detects your timezone and shows exactly which sessions are open right now, with a live countdown to the next open and close. It reads real timezone data, so it stays correct through every daylight saving change.
Open the live session clockThe weekly open
The forex week begins on Sunday at 17:00 New York time, which is Monday morning in Sydney. For the first few hours, Sydney is effectively trading alone. The book is at its thinnest of the entire week.
Two things follow from that, and both cost people money.
Weekend gaps
The market is genuinely closed from Friday evening to Sunday evening. Nothing trades, no prices update, and any news that breaks in that window (an election result, a central bank statement, a geopolitical event) is not reflected anywhere until the market reopens. When it does, price simply starts at the new level. That jump is a gap.
If you held a position through it, your stop did not protect you at the price you set. It was filled at the first available price after the gap, which can be substantially worse. This is the main practical argument against carrying leveraged positions over a weekend.
Thin-book spikes
With so few participants, a modest order can move price further than it should. Sunday evening and early Monday produce erratic wicks that get fully retraced once Tokyo and then London bring real volume. Trading these hours means competing in the least reliable conditions of the week for no particular reward.
What is actually worth trading here
- AUD/USD, NZD/USD, AUD/JPY. Australian and New Zealand data lands in this window and genuinely moves these pairs.
- The RBA rate decision. Released at 14:30 Sydney time, it is the one scheduled event that reliably produces a real move in this session.
- ASX 200 (AUS200). Its cash session runs here.
Outside those, there is little reason to be at a chart. EUR/USD in the Sydney session is a European pair with no Europeans awake.
Where Sydney is genuinely useful
Not as a session to trade, but as information. The levels Sydney and early Tokyo establish become the overnight range that the London open will test. And the way price behaves at the Sunday open, whether a gap fills quickly or holds, often says something useful about how the market has absorbed weekend news.
Handling the Monday open sensibly
The most common mistake is treating Monday morning like any other morning. It is not. The book is thin, a gap may need to fill, and the first few hours frequently move in a direction that the rest of the week then ignores completely.
Market Structure Pro watches the live spread alongside structure, so the widened, erratic conditions of a Sunday reopen are reflected in the verdict rather than hidden behind a clean-looking candle.
One clear call, with the reasoning:
A NO TRADE during a dead session is explained rather than left to guesswork. Market Structure Pro is non-repainting and works on every MT5 instrument.
See the live session and the verdict on your own charts
Market Structure Pro is session-aware. It shows which session is running, watches the spread, and fuses 27 tools into one honest TRADE / NO TRADE call with a confidence score, an A/B/C grade and a plain-English reason. Free 7-day trial, no card required.
Start free trialFrequently asked questions
What time does the Sydney session open?
At 07:00 Sydney local time, which is 21:00 UTC during Australian winter and 20:00 UTC during Australian summer. Australia's daylight saving runs opposite to the northern hemisphere.
When does the forex market open for the week?
Sunday at 17:00 New York time, which is Monday morning in Sydney. This is the thinnest liquidity of the entire trading week.
Why does forex gap at the Sunday open?
Because the market is genuinely closed at weekends. News that breaks while it is shut cannot be priced in until trading resumes, so price simply reopens at the new level rather than travelling there.
Is it safe to hold trades over the weekend?
It carries real risk. A weekend gap can jump straight past your stop, which is then filled at the first available price rather than the one you set. Position size accordingly, or close before the Friday close.
What should I trade in the Sydney session?
AUD and NZD pairs, which respond to Australian and New Zealand data, and the ASX 200. The RBA rate decision at 14:30 Sydney time is the main scheduled event worth watching.
Keep reading
- London Session: Hours, character and why it sets the daily range.
- New York Session: US data, the 09:30 cash open and afternoon reversals.
- Asian (Tokyo) Session: Why it ranges, and what actually works in it.
- London / New York Overlap: The busiest four hours of the trading day.
- Session Times by Timezone: EST, GMT, CET, IST, AEST and more, side by side.