Forex Market Hours

What are the forex market hours?

Forex market hours are the times when the global currency market is open for trading. The market runs 24 hours a day, five days a week, opening at 22:00 UTC on Sunday and closing at 22:00 UTC on Friday (21:00 UTC during northern summer when New York is on EDT).

In New York time, the weekly cycle runs from 5:00 pm ET on Sunday to 5:00 pm ET on Friday year-round. In London time, that translates to 10:00 pm GMT in winter and 11:00 pm BST in summer. Trading does not pause during the weekday window, but it does cycle through four regional sessions as the trading day moves around the globe.

When are the forex trading sessions?

The four forex trading sessions are:

1. New York

2. London

3. Tokyo

4. Sydney

Each runs for around nine hours per weekday, tied to the local banking hours of its anchor city. Together they cover the full 24-hour weekday cycle, with brief overlaps where two sessions are open at once and one short lull each day.

A forex trading session is the daily window when banks, institutional desks, and brokers in a given region are active, generating most of the trading volume in their local currencies. Sessions describe when liquidity clusters around a major financial centre. They are not enforced market hours; the underlying network stays open continuously through the weekday cycle. Session times are general windows rather than hard cutoffs. Activity ramps up around the official start of each session and tapers toward the close.

When does the New York forex session open?

The New York forex session opens at 12:00 UTC during northern summer and 13:00 UTC during northern winter, closing nine hours later at 21:00 UTC or 22:00 UTC respectively. In local time, that is 8:00 am to 5:00 pm ET year-round.

New York is the second-largest forex session by volume after London. It overlaps with the final four hours of London each day, producing the busiest trading window of the global cycle. Major US economic releases, including non-farm payrolls and Federal Reserve rate decisions, fall within this session and routinely move price in major dollar pairs.

When does the London forex session open?

The London forex session opens at 07:00 UTC during northern summer and 08:00 UTC during northern winter, closing nine hours later at 16:00 UTC or 17:00 UTC respectively. In local time, that is 8:00 am to 5:00 pm London time year-round.

London handles the largest share of daily forex turnover by a wide margin. The session overlaps with Tokyo for the first one to two hours and with New York for the final four, which makes London the only session that connects two regional cycles in a single working day. EUR, GBP, and CHF pairs typically see their highest activity in this window.

When does the Tokyo forex session open?

The Tokyo forex session opens at 00:00 UTC year-round and closes at 09:00 UTC. Tokyo is the only major financial centre that does not observe daylight saving time, so its session times stay constant while London, New York, and Sydney shift by an hour each spring and autumn.

Tokyo anchors the Asian trading day, with most JPY-pair activity concentrated in this window. The session overlaps with Sydney for the first seven hours and with London for the final two. USD/JPY, EUR/JPY, and GBP/JPY typically see their highest activity here.

When does the Sydney forex session open?

The Sydney forex session opens at 22:00 UTC during northern summer and 21:00 UTC during northern winter, closing nine hours later at 07:00 UTC or 06:00 UTC respectively. In local time, that is 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Sydney time, with daylight saving running from October to April (opposite to the northern hemisphere).

Sydney is the smallest of the four sessions by volume, but it marks the start of the global trading week. When Sydney opens on Sunday evening UTC, it is the first session to react to weekend news, geopolitical events, and any price gaps from Friday's close. AUD and NZD pairs see their most concentrated activity during this window.

How do market hours affect forex trading?

Market hours shape forex trading through their effect on volume. When more sessions are open simultaneously, more banks, institutional desks, and retail traders are placing orders, which raises overall trading volume. Higher volume tightens spreads, reduces slippage on order execution, and produces cleaner price action.

The reverse holds when only one session is open or in the gaps between sessions. Volume drops, spreads widen, and prices can move erratically on relatively small orders. The same currency pair can behave very differently at 03:00 UTC than at 14:00 UTC.

Knowing which sessions are open at any given hour is the first input to deciding when to trade specific pairs and what spread costs to expect.

When is the daily lull in forex trading?

The daily lull is the period of lowest trading volume in forex weekday cycle, sitting between the New York close and the Tokyo open, roughly 21:00 to 00:00 UTC during northern summer and 22:00 to 00:00 UTC during northern winter. New York has shut, Tokyo has not yet started, and only Sydney is active. Sydney is the smallest session by volume, so liquidity in major pairs drops sharply.

What this means in practice:

• Spreads widen. The bid-ask gap on majors can be two to three times wider than during the London-New York overlap.

• Slippage rises. Stop-loss and take-profit orders are more likely to fill at worse prices than the requested level.

• Prices move on small orders. With fewer participants, a modest order can push price further than it would during peak hours.

Short-term traders, particularly scalpers, typically avoid this window. Position traders holding overnight are largely unaffected.