See exactly which forex trading sessions are open right now, converted into your own timezone. The clock reads live timezone data, so it stays correct through every daylight saving change in London, New York and Sydney.
Works with any broker and platform, including MetaTrader 4 (MT4), MetaTrader 5 (MT5), cTrader, NinjaTrader, TradingView, DXtrade and Match-Trader.
The forex market is open 24 hours a day, five days a week, but it is not equally active at every hour. Trading rolls around the globe through four major sessions — Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York — and volume, spreads and volatility change sharply as each financial centre opens and closes. The clock above converts every session into your timezone automatically, so you never have to do the mental arithmetic or worry about whether the clocks have changed.
Each session is defined by the local business hours of its financial centre, which is why the equivalent UTC time shifts twice a year with daylight saving.
| Sydney session | 07:00 to 16:00 local (Australia/Sydney). Opens the trading week on Monday morning. Best for AUD and NZD pairs. |
| Tokyo session (Asian) | 09:00 to 18:00 local (Asia/Tokyo). Japan does not observe daylight saving, so Tokyo is 00:00 to 09:00 UTC all year. Best for JPY pairs and the Nikkei. |
| London session (European) | 08:00 to 17:00 local (Europe/London). The highest-volume session of the day and the one that sets the tone for EUR, GBP, gold and European indices. |
| New York session (US) | 08:00 to 17:00 local (America/New_York). Driven by US economic data, the Wall Street cash open and the largest moves on indices and oil. |
The single most active window of the trading day is the London and New York overlap, when both of the world's two largest financial centres are trading at the same time. Liquidity peaks, spreads are usually at their tightest, and the biggest directional moves on EUR/USD, GBP/USD, gold and the US indices tend to develop here.
In UTC terms that overlap is roughly 13:00 to 17:00 in winter and 12:00 to 16:00 in summer. Notice that it moves — and this is where most static session tables get it wrong. The United States and the United Kingdom do not change their clocks on the same date. For about three weeks every March, and again for a week in autumn, the overlap sits an hour away from where an ordinary chart says it should. The clock on this page reads live timezone data, so it is correct on those days too.
The trading week opens on Sunday at 17:00 New York time, when the Sydney session comes online, and closes on Friday at 17:00 New York time after New York shuts. Between those two points the market never sleeps. Over the weekend there is no trading, no spread and no price feed, which is why gaps can appear at the Sunday open if news breaks while the market is shut.
There is no single right answer — it depends on what you trade and when you are actually free to sit at a chart.
The same chart pattern is not the same trade at 03:00 as it is at 14:00. A breakout in a thin Asian session often has nothing behind it and fades back through the level within a few bars. The identical breakout twenty minutes after the London open has real volume behind it and tends to follow through. This is why traders who only look at price and ignore the clock end up taking the right setup at the wrong hour.
The practical fix is simple: know which session is live before you commit, and demand more confirmation from a setup that appears in a quiet one.
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Start free trialForex trades 24 hours a day from Sunday 17:00 New York time to Friday 17:00 New York time, across four sessions defined by local business hours: Sydney 07:00 to 16:00, Tokyo 09:00 to 18:00, London 08:00 to 17:00 and New York 08:00 to 17:00, each in its own local time. Because those are local hours, the equivalent UTC times shift when clocks change for daylight saving.
Use the live clock at the top of this page. It detects your timezone, shows every session as open or closed in real time, counts down to the next open or close, and tells you when the market is shut for the weekend.
The London and New York overlap is the most active window of the day, with the highest liquidity, the tightest spreads and the largest moves on major pairs, gold and the US indices. It falls around 13:00 to 17:00 UTC in winter and 12:00 to 16:00 UTC in summer.
The London session runs 08:00 to 17:00 UK local time. Select your timezone in the clock above and the page converts it for you, including the daylight saving shift, so you do not have to work it out yourself.
Yes, and this catches a lot of traders out. Session hours are anchored to local business hours, so when London or New York move their clocks the UTC equivalent moves with them. The UK and the US also switch on different dates, so for around three weeks each March the London and New York overlap sits an hour away from its usual place.
No. The market closes on Friday at 17:00 New York time and reopens on Sunday at 17:00 New York time. Nothing trades in between, which is why price can gap at the Sunday open if significant news happens while the market is closed.
Gold is most active during the London session and the London/New York overlap, when European and US institutional flow are both present. The Asian session is usually much quieter for gold and tends to range.
The New York session, and especially the 09:30 New York cash open, is when US indices see the most volume and the cleanest directional moves. Outside US hours these markets are thinner and more prone to false breaks.
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