Forex Market Hours and Trading Sessions

Forex has no single exchange and no opening bell. Trading passes from one financial centre to the next as the day moves around the globe, which is why the market is open around the clock from Monday morning in Sydney to Friday evening in New York. But not every hour is equal. Volume, volatility and spreads change sharply depending on which centres are open — and knowing the session map is one of the simplest ways to avoid trading at the worst times.

The four main sessions

Session times are conventions based on the working hours of each centre. The table uses UTC; "winter" means roughly November to March, when Europe and the US are on standard time.

Session	Winter (UTC)	Summer (UTC)
Sydney	22:00 – 07:00	21:00 – 06:00
Tokyo	00:00 – 09:00	00:00 – 09:00
London	08:00 – 17:00	07:00 – 16:00
New York	13:00 – 22:00	12:00 – 21:00

Japan does not use daylight saving time, so Tokyo stays fixed in UTC while the others shift by an hour. The US and Europe also change their clocks on different weekends in March and October/November, so for a week or two each year the gaps between sessions are an hour different from usual.

Weekly open and close

• The week opens when Sydney starts on Monday morning, which is Sunday 22:00 UTC in winter (21:00 UTC in summer).
• It closes at 5 pm New York time on Friday — 22:00 UTC in winter, 21:00 UTC in summer.

Prices can gap at the Monday open if news broke over the weekend. A stop loss sitting across that gap is filled at the first available price, not at the stop level.

The overlaps: where volume peaks

The busiest hours come when two major centres are open at once:

• London–New York overlap: 13:00 – 17:00 UTC in winter (12:00 – 16:00 in summer). The most liquid window of the day, with major US data typically released at its start.
• Tokyo–London overlap: 08:00 – 09:00 UTC in winter (07:00 – 09:00 in summer), useful for EUR/JPY and GBP/JPY.

During overlaps, spreads on major pairs are usually at their tightest and moves are larger. That suits strategies that need price to travel; it also means stops get tested more often.

Which pairs move in which session

• Sydney and Tokyo: AUD, NZD and JPY pairs are most active. EUR/USD and GBP/USD often move in a narrow range.
• London: the largest share of global volume. EUR, GBP and CHF pairs come alive, and the session often sets the direction for the day.
• New York: USD pairs and gold react to US economic releases, especially in the first hours.

Spreads and the rollover hour

Liquidity is thinnest around 5 pm New York time, when one trading day rolls into the next and banks settle positions. In the hour around rollover, spreads can widen to several times their normal size, especially on minor pairs and gold. This is also when swap is charged on positions held overnight.

A wide spread costs more than the quote suggests. A spread that widens from 1 pip to 5 pips on 1 lot of EUR/USD changes the cost from $10 to $50 — use the pip calculator to put your own numbers on it, and see forex trading costs for the full picture.

Is there a best time to trade?

There is no universally best hour, but a few rules hold for most traders:

• Trade the session in which your pair is most active.
• Expect the largest moves, and the tightest spreads on majors, during the London–New York overlap.
• Avoid opening positions in the minutes around high-impact news unless that is your strategy.
• Be careful with tight stops near the daily rollover and at the Monday open.

If your time zone only allows quiet hours, choose pairs and targets that fit them — a 60-pip target on EUR/USD during the late Asian session is rarely realistic. Placing the stop to match the session's volatility matters too; see how to set a stop loss.

Key takeaways

• The forex market runs from Sunday 22:00 UTC to Friday 22:00 UTC in winter, an hour earlier in summer.
• Four sessions: Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York; Tokyo does not shift with daylight saving.
• The London–New York overlap is the most liquid window of the day.
• Spreads widen around the daily rollover at 5 pm New York time and at the weekly open.
• Match your pairs, targets and stops to the session you can actually trade.

Session times are conventions and approximate; liquidity varies by broker and market conditions. YenPip content is educational, not financial advice.