Market sessions clock

How market sessions work

Forex does not close during the week, but activity is not spread evenly: it concentrates around the hours of the main financial centres. Sessions are defined by local time in Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York, and they overlap one another in specific windows.

Sydney → Tokyo → London → New York, chained across the day

The overlap everyone watches

London and New York coincide for a few hours in the European afternoon, and it is the highest-volume window of the day because the two largest centres trade at once. The Sydney–Tokyo overlap, by contrast, moves considerably less.

Frequently asked questions

Do the hours shift with daylight saving?

Yes. Sessions are set by each centre's local time, and daylight saving does not start on the same day in Europe, the United States and Australia. During those weeks the overlaps move by an hour. The clock works it out in your time zone.

Is more volume better for trading?

More volume usually means tighter spreads and wider moves, but also more noise. Which window suits you depends on your strategy and when you can actually be at the screen, not on an hour that works for everyone.

Why are Sunday and Friday different?

Because the market opens with Sydney on Sunday afternoon European time and closes on Friday with New York. Liquidity is thinner at those edges and spreads tend to widen.

Other calculators

• Position size (lots)
• Risk/reward (R:R)
• Pip value
• Margin / leverage
• Drawdown and recovery
• Break-even point