Forex Market Hours Guide

Opening and closing times for all four sessions, in UTC, and in your own time zone once the clock loads.

Forex market hours clock

The four forex trading sessions, their local market hours, and the same hours in UTC at the clocks in force when this page was built

Session	Local market hours	In UTC	Overlap
Sydney	07:00 to 16:00 AEST	21:00 to 06:00
Tokyo	09:00 to 18:00 JST	00:00 to 09:00
London	08:00 to 17:00 BST	07:00 to 16:00	London plus New York
New York	08:00 to 17:00 EDT	12:00 to 21:00	London plus New York

London and New York overlap from 12:00 to 16:00 UTC while London is on BST and New York on EDT, the highest-volume window of the trading day.

With JavaScript off, the table shows each centre's own local market hours and the same hours converted into UTC at the clock each centre was on when the page was last built, and the zone abbreviation beside each row (for example BST or EDT) names the clock it used. Once the script runs, the table converts the hours into your own time zone, applies each centre's daylight saving rule exactly, and shows which sessions are open, with sessions running Monday to Friday in each centre.

What Are The Forex Trading Hours For Currency Traders?

Forex trading hours are 24 hours a day, five days a week, and there is always a major market open somewhere during the week. The trading week begins at 21:00 UTC on Sunday while Sydney is on AEST (07:00 on Monday in Sydney, 17:00 on Sunday in New York), and 20:00 UTC on Sunday while Sydney is on AEDT, after a weekend closure of 46 to 48 hours depending on the season. It ends at 21:00 UTC on Friday while New York is on EDT and 22:00 UTC on Friday while New York is on EST (17:00 in New York either way). I recommend you build your trading week around those two times, the Sunday open and the Friday close, and convert each into your local time before you plan anything else. This 24-hour window is an advantage over the stock market, which runs a much more limited schedule, so you can trade before your local stock market opens and after it closes.

Are Forex Markets Open 24 Hours a Day?

Yes, foreign exchange markets are open 24 hours during weekdays.

One of the unique aspects of forex trading is that there’s always a major market open somewhere in the world, allowing for continuous trading opportunities during the week.

What are the Four Forex Trading Sessions and Times?

The four forex trading sessions are Sydney, Tokyo, London, and New York, and each one keeps its own local hours all year. A clock change in one city moves only that session, by one hour in UTC, so the sessions shift against each other through the year. The table below gives each session in UTC in both states, standard time and daylight time, so you can see each move before it happens. I would find the city’s row in the “Session” column, read across to “Daylight time runs” to see which state applies today, then take the hours from the matching column, “UTC on standard time” or “UTC on daylight time”.

The four sessions run the following weekday market hours, each in its own local time: 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.

The table compares each session's local hours with its UTC hours on standard time and on daylight time and shows when daylight time runs in that city: the UTC figures are arithmetic on each city's offset from the IANA time zone database, read September 28, 2026.

Forex Market Time Zone Converter

The four session tables below give each session in UTC and in Sydney, Tokyo, London, and New York time, one row per period between clock changes, so you can read any session on all four clocks. Where a close is earlier than its open, the close falls on the next calendar day. For any other city, add its UTC offset to the UTC column. Johannesburg (SAST, UTC+2) and Lagos (WAT, UTC+1) are the worked examples: while London and New York are on summer time, the London session runs 09:00 to 18:00 in Johannesburg and 08:00 to 17:00 in Lagos, and the New York session runs 14:00 to 23:00 in Johannesburg and 13:00 to 22:00 in Lagos. Neither city changes its clocks, so the same offset works for any UTC time on this page, all year.

The table shows the four sessions and the London and New York overlap in Johannesburg (SAST) and Lagos (WAT) time, in one column for the weeks London and New York are on summer time and one for the weeks they are on winter time, which differ because the trading centres change their own clocks.

If you are trading from Singapore, you can read the same four sessions on the Singapore clock, with each open and close in SGT, in our forex market hours in Singapore time guide.

What is the Most Popular Time to Trade Forex?

The most popular trading times are when sessions overlap on global currency markets

The list below gives each overlap in UTC, with the clock condition that changes it. If you trade the major pairs, I would plan my day around the London and New York overlap, the busiest window of the trading week, because the hours when sessions overlap bring the greatest liquidity and volatility.

• London and New York: 12:00 to 16:00 UTC while both are on daylight time, 13:00 to 17:00 UTC while both are on standard time
• Tokyo and London: 07:00 to 09:00 UTC while London is on BST, 08:00 to 09:00 UTC while London is on GMT
• Sydney and Tokyo: 00:00 to 06:00 UTC while Sydney is on AEST, 00:00 to 05:00 UTC while Sydney is on AEDT

Sydney Session: Australia (AEST)

Tokyo Session: Japan (JST)

London Session: UK (GMT)

New York Session: US (EST)

If you are trading from the United States, you can read the same four sessions on the US Eastern Time clock in our forex market hours in US Eastern Time guide.

Best Time To Trade Forex

The best time to trade forex is the London and New York overlap, which runs 12:00 to 16:00 UTC while both cities are on summer time and 13:00 to 17:00 UTC while both are on winter time. In the weeks the two cities are out of step, from the second Sunday of March to the last Sunday of March and from the last Sunday of October to the first Sunday of November, the overlap stretches to five hours, 12:00 to 17:00 UTC. Overlapping periods bring the greatest liquidity and volatility. If you trade EUR/USD or GBP/USD, I recommend you build your trading day around this window, because the euro and the US dollar are two of the world’s major currencies and give EUR/USD high liquidity, and the overlap is where that liquidity peaks.

While London and New York are on summer time and Sydney on AEST, the overlap of 12:00 to 16:00 UTC is 13:00 to 17:00 in London, 08:00 to 12:00 in New York, 22:00 to 02:00 in Sydney, and 21:00 to 01:00 in Tokyo. While London and New York are both on winter time and Sydney on AEDT, the overlap of 13:00 to 17:00 UTC is 13:00 to 17:00 in London, 08:00 to 12:00 in New York, 00:00 to 04:00 in Sydney, and 22:00 to 02:00 in Tokyo, so between the two seasons only Sydney and Tokyo see the overlap move on their own clocks. In my view, the Sydney window is the hardest of these to trade from, because in the winter-time season it falls at 00:00 to 04:00 local time, which leaves a reader in Sydney trading the busiest window in the middle of the night or sitting it out. Wherever you are, the next thing to plan for is the opening and closing minutes of each market.

Generally, the opening and closing times of a market are the most important periods, as it often sets the tone for the trading session and can have very high liquidity (especially in the first/last few minutes).

Forex Trading Holidays (Bank and Public Holidays)

During selected key national bank holidays (known as public holidays in many countries) a country’s currency market may close, limiting the overall forex trading sessions. Worldwide, major public holidays such as Easter and Christmas lead to all currency markets closing.

Whether trading seizes due to a public holiday depends on the country and trading session. For instance in the US, if there is a public holiday that is not globally recognised such as Thanksgiving, US financial markets close and the worldwide currency markets that are trading do so at lower levels, and are less volatile and liquid.

US national public holidays do not halt trading or close the New York session, but trading volumes are significantly lower.

Holding Forex Positions Over the Weekend and Major Holidays

Forex brokers allow you to hold positions over the weekend and during major holidays, and both carry additional risks: price gaps on economic and political news, wider spreads, unexpected moves when the market reopens, and swap or rollover fees that can be higher. The market closes at 21:00 UTC on Friday while New York is on EDT and 22:00 UTC while New York is on EST (17:00 in New York either way, when the New York session ends), and it reopens when the Sydney session opens, 21:00 UTC on Sunday while Sydney is on AEST and 20:00 UTC on Sunday while Sydney is on AEDT (07:00 on Monday in Sydney, 17:00 on Sunday in New York). The closure is 48 hours while New York is on EDT and Sydney on AEST, roughly from the first Sunday of April to the first Sunday of October; 47 hours in the October and March weeks when New York is on EDT and Sydney on AEDT; and 46 hours while New York is on EST and Sydney on AEDT, from the first Sunday of November to the second Sunday of March. Nothing trades in that window until the Sydney session opens and the new trading week begins.

Holding a position during this time exposes you to the potential of significant gaps in market prices triggered by factors such as economic events and political news. The same goes for major public holidays that are globally recognised. Holding a position over these periods where forex markets are closed may result in increased spreads and unexpected price movements when the market reopens.

Another consideration are swap or rollover fees. Such fees may be higher for positions held over the weekend or holiday periods, increasing the costs of your trade.

Therefore, while it is possible to keep positions open over weekends and public holiday, its vital to factor in all costs and ensure you are employing risk management tools such as stop loss orders to minimise losses.

Forex Trading Hours and Daylight Savings

Daylight saving shifts the forex trading hours you see in UTC, because each session keeps its own local hours, Monday to Friday, all year. When a city changes its clocks, only that centre’s session moves, and it moves by one hour in UTC. Tokyo has no daylight saving, so the Tokyo session never moves: it is fixed at 00:00 to 09:00 UTC.

Each city’s clock change moves only that city’s session, by one hour in UTC: Sydney’s session runs 21:00 to 06:00 UTC on AEST and 20:00 to 05:00 UTC on AEDT, from the first Sunday of October to the first Sunday of April; London’s runs 08:00 to 17:00 UTC on GMT and 07:00 to 16:00 UTC on BST, with summer time from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October; and New York’s runs 13:00 to 22:00 UTC on EST and 12:00 to 21:00 UTC on EDT, from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November. Tokyo (JST, UTC+9) has no daylight saving, so its session is fixed at 00:00 to 09:00 UTC. In my view, you should check the session tables whenever a city’s clocks change, so you are never working from hours that have already moved.

The time zone rules in this table come from the IANA time zone database, read on September 28, 2026.

Specific Sessions and High-Volume Hours

The forex trading day divides into four key sessions (Sydney, Tokyo, London, and New York), and the high-volume hours fall when the London and New York sessions overlap. If you trade the overlap, I would treat the weeks when it stretches to five hours as the ones worth planning for, because the extra hour extends the busiest window of the day. That overlap runs four hours for most of the year and widens to five hours in the weeks the two cities change their clocks on different dates, which works out to the following periods in UTC:

• First Sunday of April to first Sunday of October: 12:00 to 16:00 UTC (four hours)
• First Sunday of October to last Sunday of October: 12:00 to 16:00 UTC (four hours)
• Last Sunday of October to first Sunday of November: 12:00 to 17:00 UTC (five hours)
• First Sunday of November to second Sunday of March: 13:00 to 17:00 UTC (four hours)
• Second Sunday of March to last Sunday of March: 12:00 to 17:00 UTC (five hours)
• Last Sunday of March to first Sunday of April: 12:00 to 16:00 UTC (four hours)

During this window, both liquidity and volatility are at their peak, providing traders the greatest opportunities for significant price movements.

Forex Hours Q&A

What are the Most Popular Currency Pairs to Trade?

The most popular currency pairs to trade are ranked below by their share of global turnover in the BIS Triennial Survey, April 2025 (final revised data published June 2026). Around 180 currencies are in circulation, and the seven most traded pairs are:

1. EUR/USD: 21.2%
2. USD/JPY: 14.3%
3. USD/CNY: 8.1%
4. GBP/USD: 7.6%
5. USD/CAD: 5.3%
6. AUD/USD: 4.9%
7. USD/CHF: 4.9%

EUR/USD leads at 21.2% of daily turnover, and the euro and the US dollar, two of the world’s major currencies, give the pair its high liquidity. The seven most traded pairs made up 66.3% of turnover in April 2025, against 66.8% in 2022, so most of the market’s daily flow runs through seven pairs.

The USD/CAD pair is a significant part of daily trading volume. The Canadian Dollar is closely tied to commodity prices, such as oil. This provides an edge for traders who have a good grasp on the commodities market.

Forex Market Cap: How Big is the Forex Market?

The forex market has no market capitalisation the way a stock exchange does, so its size is measured in daily turnover: US$9.51 trillion a day in April 2025 (BIS Triennial Survey, final revised data published June 2026). Retail traders accounted for about 2.5% of that turnover, US$242 billion a day, in April 2025. The session hours that matter most to me are the hours when the institutions behind the other 97.5% are trading, which is why the London and New York overlap is the busiest window.

What is the Daily Turnover of Forex Markets?

The daily turnover of forex markets was US$9.51 trillion in April 2025, up 27% from US$7.47 trillion in 2022, according to the BIS Triennial Survey (final revised data published June 2026). Turnover grew 14% from 2019 to 2022, so growth picked up in the most recent survey period. If you are choosing when to trade, my reading of that growth is that the same session hours now carry more turnover, so the busiest windows of the week are busier than they were in 2022.

You will find the wider survey breakdown, from pair shares to the retail slice, on our Forex Trading Statistics page.

Do I Need Multiple Forex Brokers To Trade All Hours?

No, you do not need multiple forex brokers to trade all hours. Almost any forex broker we cover can access any currency market while it is open and trade several currencies across the trading day, so one account is enough for a market that runs 24 hours a day, five days a week.

A pair such as USD/CAD or EUR/USD can be traded in every session, including the hours when only Asian markets are open, though volatility can be lower outside a pair’s home hours. The session times on this page are given in UTC first, and the Tokyo session, 00:00 to 09:00 UTC, never moves with the clock changes, so that window holds steady all year. When you can, I recommend trading a pair in its home hours, which for EUR/USD means the London and New York sessions.

Brokers keep customer service open during forex trading hours, so help is available at any point in the trading week. My advice is to check a broker’s own trading hours for each instrument before you rely on them. If you trade through ECN brokers, they route your orders to liquidity providers, and the same check on trading hours applies.

A narrower question in the same set is answered on Guide: How to Trade Interest Rates.

At What Trading Hours Do Currency Pairings Fluctuate The Most?

There are no set Forex trading hours when currency paring historically fluctuates the most. While volume/liquidity is the highest when multiple markets are open (e.g. when the London and New York markets are open) this doesn’t necessarily mean the currency will fluctuate more. There are though a few general events that can lead to currency pairings having large changes including:

When markets open:

When a new country’s currency exchange market often opens, the first few minutes will see some larger price fluctuation as traders enter the market factoring in movements that have occurred in previous markets. This also impacts the currencies traded from the CAD, JPY, EUR, and SGD to the USD.

When rate decisions are made:

Countries’ central banks such as the RBA make rate announcements on the same day of the month and at a set time. These announcements directly impact relevant currency pairs and increase currency trading. Knowing the key reserve bank dates and times is critical for any trader.

When economic data is released:

Like the reserve bank announcements, government departments regularly release economic performance figures from terms of trade to warehouse orders and production. Like rate announcements, these directly impact currency pairings and can see large fluctuations. In 2015, the Chinese announcements led to the largest fluctuations worldwide’

When multiple market sessions are active:

There are times when multiple markets around the world are open at the same time and those correlating times make the market especially volatile. For example, when the New York session starts, the US Dollar is particularly volatile. The same goes for the London session and the Canadian dollar (especially seen in the forex pair USD/CAD), and the Tokyo session with the Japanese yen. This effect is compounded when multiple sessions are open at the same time, for example, the crossover of the New York session and the London session.

There is a similar effect with some smaller markets around the world, for example, Germany’s Frankfurt session has an effect on the Euro price, and the Hong Kong & Singapore sessions have an effect on the Asian markets.

What Forex Broker Features Should Traders Look For?

There is high interest in forex trading worldwide, as shown in our Top Forex Trading Countries guide. To cater to this demand there is a plethora of forex brokers regulated by bodies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA), the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Securities Commission Malaysia and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), which differ by a few different factors:

Within the same set we also publish What Is A Drawdown In Forex.

Leverage Levels

Without leverage, making sizeable profits or losses would be near impossible. While leverage is a great benefit when foreign exchange trading, it also increases your risk profile. Only those with experienced trading activity and a high level of risk appetite should accept a broker’s maximum leverage.

Spreads

There are two ways CFD brokers make money. One way is through spreads which is the difference between the buy and sell rates. The second way is to set commissions based on trading volume. It’s important to work out the volume you plan to trade and then work out which broker will provide you with the best value for money. This can be based on average spreads/commissions. Generally, ECN brokers which allow you to make trades directly without liquidity providers, offer lower spreads than market makers.

Execution Speeds

With currency markets existing often overseas, having fast connections to these markets is critical when individuals trade forex. Your Fx broker’s fast connections to overseas markets (e.g. optic fibre) and fast servers give an edge outside US market hours. It also reduces slippages. This happens when your order is filled lower/higher than when you placed the order due to the delays in execution speeds. Some brokers have one-click trading, which allows you to execute your trades with one click, thus saving time. Some brokers offer some of the fastest execution speeds in the industry.

Fail-safes

While all forex brokers offer stop/loss features when trading, it is possible to exceed loss levels set due to slippage. Because of the high levels of risk, traders may select a broker that offers guaranteed stop-loss orders. This means they can’t lose more than a set amount for a trade. Another fail-safe broker’s offer is Negative Balance Protection. This is where brokers automatically exit CFDs traders from the market when their deposit level reaches a $0 balance. Even if slippage does occur, the broker pays the difference. Reading the risk warnings of brokers is important before trading currency.

Regulation

It is also important to understand what country regulates the broker. Regulation by bodies such as the CFTC and NFA requires brokers to have training requirements and to segregate clients’ funds into separate accounts. As with any investment product, if it’s too good to be true, it normally is. Play it safe by ensuring the broker is licensed by the regulator in your market and has a good reputation and market share.

Account Types

Most brokers will offer a range of day trading accounts to suit your needs. These will typically include standard accounts, which will have a fee for each trade executed instead of a commission. These accounts tend to be best if you wish to keep your trade costs simple. Brokers will often have a second type of account, which will base commissions on transactions. These accounts are best suited for high-volume forex traders, as there can be substantial savings when trading using a commission.

Minimum Deposits

When you open a new trading account, the broker will require a minimum deposit. Some brokers do not require any deposit to simply open an account while others have a minimum of $200. You will need to add some funds if you do want to execute actual trades.

Education Resources

Good brokers offer resources such as forex training materials, forex markets reviews, and forex news to help you learn about forex trading and happenings in the forex world. A comprehensive video tutorial series is offered by IC Markets to help you get started with your trading education. There is also a range of technical analysis resources.

You can compare our lowest spread brokers if trading cost matters more to you than the hour you trade.

Links To Other Guides

Follow these links to our full trading guide and our collection of forex trading courses.

• 
•