Xm market open time

Nonetheless, to trade a forex pair, you need a counterparty. To buy something you need someone else to sell you want you are trying to buy and vice versa.

No deposit forex bonuses

Forex Market Hours, xm market open time.

So, if you are trying to buy USD/JPY in the middle of the night when nobody in the united states or japan are awake, then there is a good chance that you will have a hard time doing business. This is why in practice, you should spend your active trading hours when there are ample buyers and sellers in the market. Use the below forex market clock to check where your current time is in relation to the 4 major forex trading sessions (sydney, tokyo, london and new york).

Forex market hours

Use the below forex market clock to check where your current time is in relation to the 4 major forex trading sessions (sydney, tokyo, london and new york).

You can also select the GMT option to check current GMT time in relation to the sessions.

It is important to remember that each of the forex session times are approximations as to when trading activity picks up and is influenced by the relative region/session. Globally, forex session times are a general indication not hard fixed times - they are influenced by many factors, including when local business' open and close.

Session times also vary according to daylight savings times in the relative regions - so the sydney, london and new york forex session times are impacted by daylight savings, whereas tokyo is not. And to make matters more complicated, the sydney session is in the southern hemisphere, so their daylight savings season is opposite to that of london and new york.

Forex market session times - currently open or closed

current status	countdown	current local time
sydney session	closed	opens in 05 hours 48 mins	02:11 (local time)
tokyo session	closed	opens in 07 hours 48 mins	00:11 (local time)
london session	open	closes in 01 hours 48 mins	15:11 (local time)
new york session	open	closes in 06 hours 48 mins	10:11 (local time)

Forex market hours session times in EST and GMT

U.S spring / summer session
session	GMT	EST
sydney open	22:00	18:00
sydney close	07:00	03:00
tokyo open	23:00	19:00
tokyo close	08:00	04:00
london open	07:00	03:00
london close	16:00	12:00
new york open	12:00	08:00
new york close	21:00	17:00

U.S autumn / winter session
session	GMT	EST
sydney open	21:00	16:00
sydney close	06:00	01:00
tokyo open	23:00	18:00
tokyo close	08:00	03:00
london open	08:00	03:00
london close	17:00	12:00
new york open	13:00	08:00
new york close	22:00	17:00

Understanding the impact of forex market hours in your trading strategy

The FX market is open 24 hours a day from monday (or sunday) to friday (or saturday) - as one part of the world goes to sleep, another wakes up. That's why we talk about forex market hours and forex trading sessions - to describe where and when the different forex trading sessions are open to trading.

When you first came to know about the global currency market, you probably came in touch with marketing materials claiming that this market remains open 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Anyone who traded equities (stocks) or any other commodities knows that stock exchanges or other markets are usually open during banking hours in a day. However, being a decentralized market, the forex market has no rigid trading hours.

Nonetheless, the foreign exchange market is an international market that stretches from major financial centers like sydney and tokyo in the east to all the way to san francisco in the west - all located in vastly different time zones. By the time traders in tokyo go home after work, banks are not even open in new york, which operates during forex market hours est - from 8 a.M. To 5:00 p.M. Eastern standard time.

Because the forex market operates in multiple time zones, it can be accessed at any time. Yet, seasoned traders know that there is an unofficial concept of forex market hours. It starts at 7:00 am, in sydney, australia - at the australian eastern standard time (AEST) zone, which is 10 hours ahead of the greenwich mean time (GMT) or GMT +10 and ends at 5:00 p.M. In new york, the united states at the eastern standard time (EST) zone, which is 5 hours behind the greenwich mean time (GMT) or GMT -5.

Understanding relationship between currency pairs, trading volume, and time zones

You see, the global currency market is dominated by large banks, commercial companies taking part in import and export of goods and services, central banks, hedge funds, and retail forex traders.

Imagine that a deal was made last week between mitsubishi in japan and a car dealer in australia who wants to import 200 units of mitsubishi's latest sports utility vehicles (suvs). According to the contract between two parties, the australian car importer would settle the invoice amount on the first hour of monday. As soon as the banks open in tokyo, the australian importer will need to convert its australian dollars to japanese yen in order to pay for the cars to the japanese car manufacturer.

As the payment for 200 cars would a substantial amount, the demand for the japanese yen will suddenly go up early on monday morning, which will turn the yen bullish. As a result, the AUD/JPY will become bearish.

This is just a simple example, but this is the reason why often prices start to move, and trends are created. The point of this illustration is to make a point that when japanese and australian banks are open to conducting international transactions, there is a high probability that the respective currencies, such as the australian dollar and the japanese yen, will experience increased trading volume. Consequently, the prices of these currencies will fluctuate more compared to outside of the banking hours.

Why you should trade during certain forex trading hours

Theoretically, it is true that there is no central exchange in the forex market, and anyone can buy and sell currencies any time of the day or any day of the week.

Nonetheless, to trade a forex pair, you need a counterparty. To buy something you need someone else to sell you want you are trying to buy and vice versa. So, if you are trying to buy USD/JPY in the middle of the night when nobody in the united states or japan are awake, then there is a good chance that you will have a hard time doing business. This is why in practice; you should spend your active trading hours when there are ample buyers and sellers in the market.

Even if some brokers allow trading during the weekends, the prices of various currency pairs hardly move on saturday and sunday. If you are a short-term day trader, who opens and closes trades within a day, trading outside banking hours in major financial centers around the world will also feel like you are trading during the weekend. Because if major financial institutions and professional traders are not placing huge orders that move the market, there is no reason for the solid trends to take place.

Hence, the concept of forex market hours derives from the notion that when major financial markets are open in a given time zone, the volume and liquidity in the market remains high, which in turn reduces the difference between the bid and ask prices and helps traders to fill their orders relatively easily without incurring slippage.

After all, as a retail forex trader with limited capital, you will not be in a position to move the market. You will solely rely on larger players like banks and institutional investors to create the trends and hopefully catch a few to turn a profit. This is why short-term retail forex traders should trade only during active banking hours and avoid looking for trading opportunities when the forex market hours clock stops ticking.

Why some of the forex trading hours are more active than others

Technically speaking, if you exchange 200 U.S. Dollars to get some british pound for pocket money at an airport foreign exchange kiosk after arriving in london, in the middle of the night, it would be also considered as a foreign exchange trade. However, as you can guess by now, large billion-dollar, cross-border, transactions do not happen at 3 a.M. At the parking lot of the heathrow airport.

Figure 1: world map showing time zones of major financial centers around the world

These market-moving transactions happen among large banks during their respective banking hours.

Moreover, not all branches of a certain big bank will do these large-scale cross-border transactions. For example, a small branch of the bank of america in louisville, kentucky. However, its downtown manhattan branch in new york will certainly engage in large-scale foreign exchange deals. Similarly, a branch of the swiss multinational investment bank, UBS group AG, in bangkok will have a lower transaction volume in the forex market compared to its branch located in a major asian financial hub like singapore. Hence, banking hours in the time zone of major financial centers like tokyo in japan, singapore city in singapore, frankfurt in germany, london in the united kingdom, and new york in the united states generate the bulk of the trading volume in the forex market. Therefore, liquidity and volatility are usually higher when markets are open in these time zones.

Besides banks engaged in commercial cross-border currency transactions, institutional investors and hedge funds speculating in the international stock exchanges also generate a high volume of foreign exchange transactions. Hedge funds with international exposure often buy and sell a large number of stocks across the globe to diversify their portfolios.

Coincidentally, some of the major forex exchange hubs also host the major stock exchanges. For example, the NASDAQ and the new york stock exchange are located in, you guessed it right, in new york; the london stock exchange is located in london, and the tokyo shoken torihikijo is based in tokyo.

So, cross-border investments that require moving funds from one end of the globe to another generally contributes to a higher level of trading volume in the global foreign exchange market. Furthermore, when banks and stock exchanges in more than one major financial centers are open simultaneously, the trading volume and liquidity go up substantially.

Figure 2: best time to trade forex - based on trading volume in different forex market hours

This is why the beginning of the new york trading session has usually generated the bulk of the trading opportunities for short-term traders because it opens when the london trading session is also open across the atlantic. Hence, if you overlay the trading volatility in a forex market hours chart, you can see that it spikes up when trading begins in the financial center located next in the time zone. And so overlapping hours of the london trading session and the new york trading session is the best time to trade forex, since the market is most active.

The choice of your forex market hours depends on your strategy

If you are a swing trader or a trend trader who likes to keep positions open overnight or several days at a time, then paying attention to the forex market hours chart in figure 2 may not be that important. However, most forex traders are day traders and different trading sessions based on the time zone and geographic location of the financial centers around the world will have a substantial impact on the bottom line.

While the actual trading strategy you have may not change, knowing when to trade can certainly help you stop wasting time looking for trades when are no trading opportunities in the market. Furthermore, success in forex trading in highly depends on timing, as trends can often reverse and wipe out the profits in your open trades. Knowing when to enter and exit the market based on active forex market hour can have an immensely positive impact on your profitability and aid in building the confidence you need to succeed in this agile market environment.

Let's take a look at three major forex market hour-based strategies you can apply today to improve your win rate and increase profitability.

Forex market hours based strategy no# 1: trading price gaps during market open on monday

Price gaps are the areas on a price chart that represents a missing price data in a chart. While a lot of brokers also show price gaps in line charts, it is best illustrated in a bar or candlestick chart. When a currency pair sharply goes up or down with no transaction in between, it is represented in a price gap.

While most brokers suspend trading during the weekend, the fact is that economic news and geopolitical events still occur on saturdays and sundays. As a result, the valuation of different currency pairs can change after the brokers suspend trading on friday.

When the market re-opens on monday morning, at 7:00 a.M. In sydney time, you will often see that there is a huge gap between the closing price of friday and the opening price on monday. For example, let's say a hostile country like iran might have announced to test a nuclear weapon after the market closed on friday. It will certainly create panic about the global world order and might affect the oil supply, which in turn will affect USD/JPY. As a result, the value of the U.S. Dollar may drop during the weekend. When the market opens on monday, the USD/JPY price might open significantly lower compared to friday's closing price.

Trading price gaps on mondays can be very profitable as most often gaps are filled before the actual trend takes place, be it the continuation of the trend in the direction of the price gap or a complete reversal.

Figure 3: trading the USD/JPY price gap would have resulted in some quick profits

In figure 3, we can see that the USD/JPY price opened much higher on monday, july 3, 2019, at 108.18 compared to the closing price on friday, which was 107.91 on june 28, 2019. While the uptrend continued throughout monday, a bearish retracement started on tuesday, july 2, 2019, and the gap was filled before the uptrend resumed.

Forex market hours based strategy no# 2: breakout trading at london opening hours

The london session is responsible for around 30% of the trading volume, which is the highest among all major forex market sessions around the world. Hence, often major trends start and end during the london forex market hours.

If you are a forex trader who applies breakout trading strategies, it makes perfect sense to look for breakout trades at the opening hours of the london market open. To do so, of course, you need to trade in smaller time frames like the 5-minute or the 15-minute charts.

In terms of the actual trading strategy, trading during the london market opening hour is no different than trading any other time of the day. However, given the significant increase in trading volume at this time, it makes breakout trading much more lucrative.

Figure 4: EUR/USD breakout trade during london opening hours

In figure 4, we can see that the EUR/USD was mostly trading within a narrow range and the trading volume was relatively low. But, as soon as the market opened at 8:00 a.M. In london time, the trading volume spiked up and within 30-minutes the EUR/USD broke below the consolidation zone, starting a sustained downtrend in the market.

If you are a breakout trader, and only have an hour to trade per day, looking for trading opportunities during the london market opening hours can often provide you with ample trades that you may not find at any other time of the day.

Forex market hours based strategy no# 3: intraday trading during second half of london session

As we discussed earlier, when the market in new york opens, the london trading session has already progressed halfway for the day. As a result, the trading volume in the forex market typically reaches the highest during the day at the opening hours of the new york trading session.

Figure 5: trading volume is highest at the new york market opening hours

To illustrate the situation at the opening of the new york trading session, take a look at figure 5 to see how the trading volume spiked up the moment market opened.

Most short-term intraday traders decide to trade during the second half of the london session. Because during this time, two of the largest financial centers are operational, which increases liquidity in the market. High market liquidity is a pre-requisite of low spreads and short-term traders who only bag 10-15 pips at a time need low spreads to reduce their cost of business.

If you are an intraday trader, trading during this particular time of the day will certainly be going to increase your odds of success regardless of which technical trading strategy you are pursuing.

The bottom line

In the traditional investment environment, volatility is seen as an adverse condition that is associated with risks. In fact, academic finance loathes volatility and try to develop investment strategies that reduce its effect on a portfolio. However, speculative trading, such as trading in the forex market, requires a decent level of volatility to generate profits. After all, without ample volatility, when the market remains too calm, no profitable trades can be executed.

Hence, knowing which time of the day the forex market remains most active is an integral part of becoming a successful trader. The best time to trade the global foreign exchange market is when other traders are active in the market and trading volume remains healthy enough for spreads to remain tight.

When banks, stock markets, and commodity exchanges in major financial centers are operational, it creates the underlying liquidity in the forex market that is necessary for volatility.

You can be a price action trader, or your strategy might rely on a combination of technical indicators to generate trading signals. Regardless of how you trade, knowing when to trade can make or break your strategy.

Trading hours

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Trading sessions from sunday 22:05 GMT to friday 21:50 GMT

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Forex market hours

As one major forex market closes, another one opens. According to GMT, for instance, forex trading hours move around the world like this: available in new york between 01:00 pm – 10:00 pm GMT; at 10:00 pm GMT sydney comes online; tokyo opens at 00:00 am and closes at 9:00 am GMT; and to complete the loop, london opens at 8:00 am and closes at 05:00 pm GMT. This enables traders and brokers worldwide, together with the participation of the central banks from all continents, to trade online 24 hours a day.

More activity, more possibilities

The forex market is open 24 hours a day, and it is important to know which are the most active trading periods.

For instance, if we take a less active period between 5 pm – 7 pm EST, after new york closes and before tokyo opens, sydney will be open for trading but with more modest activity than the three major sessions (london, US, tokyo). Consequently, less activity means less financial opportunity. If you want to trade currency pairs like EUR/USD, GBP/USD or USD/CHF you will find more activity between 8 am – 12 pm when both europe and the united states are active.

Alertness and opportunity

Other forex trading hours to watch out for are the release times of government reports and official economic news. Governments issue timetables for when exactly these news releases take place, but they do not coordinate releases between the different countries.

It is thus worth finding out about the economic indicators published in the different major countries, as these coincide with the most active moments of forex trading. Such increased activity means bigger opportunities in currency prices, and sometimes orders are executed at prices that differ from those you expected.

As trader, you have two main options: either include the news periods in your forex trading hours, or decide to deliberately suspend trading during these periods. Whichever alternative you opt for, you should take a pro-active approach when prices suddenly change during a news release.

Trading sessions

For day traders the most productive hours are between the opening of the london markets at 08:00 GMT and the closing of the US markets at 22:00 GMT. The peak time for trading is when the US and london markets overlap between 1 pm GMT – 4 pm GMT. The main sessions of the day are the london, US and asian markets.

Below is a brief overview of trading sessions that will help you make the most of the market:

LONDON SESSION – open between 8 am GMT – 5 pm GMT; EUR, GBP, USD are the most active currencies;

US SESSION – open between 1 pm GMT – 10 pm GMT; USD, EUR, GBP, AUD, JPY are the most active currencies;

ASIAN SESSION – opens at about 10 pm GMT on sunday afternoon, goes into the european trading session at about 9 am GMT; not very suitable for day trading.

Online trading

XM trading hours are between sunday 22:05 GMT and friday 21:50 GMT. When our dealing desk is closed, the trading platform does not execute trades and its features are only available for viewing.

For any enquiries, technical difficulties, or urgent support, feel free to contact our 24-hour customer support by email or live chat any time. In case you don’t have your PC at hand, please make sure to have your account login details with you so that our support team can help you with your orders.

For closing positions, setting a take profit or stop loss order on an existing position you will also need to provide us with your ticket number. Then all you will need to do is request for a two-way quote on a particular currency pair and specify the transaction size (e.G. “I’d like a dollar japanese yen quote for 10 lots.”). Please remember if password authorization fails, or you do not wish to undergo this process, we will not be able to carry out your instructions.

Legal: this website is operated by trading point of financial instruments limited, registration number HE251334, with registered address at 12 richard & verengaria street, araouzos castle court, 3rd floor, 3042 limassol, cyprus.

Risk warning: cfds are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 78.04% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how cfds work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Please consider our risk disclosure.

Trading point of financial instruments limited provides investment and ancillary services to residents of the european economic area (EEA) and the united kingdom.

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Trading sessions

Now you are a bit closer to forex: you know what it is, how you can benefit from it and who the market participants are. Let’s see when you can trade.

Do you remember what you previously learned about the advantages of forex, telling you that the market is open nonstop? Yes, the forex market is open 24 hours a day – allowing you to trade at any time of the day or night. You can trade 24/5 between 22:00 GMT sunday – 22:00 GMT friday.

There are 4 main forex trading sessions with opening/closing hours based on the biggest financial centers.

Time zone	GMT
sydney open sydney close	22:00 06:00
tokyo open tokyo close	00:00 08:00
london open london close	08:00 16:00
new york open new york close	13:00 21:00

*GMT (greenwich mean time)

When to trade?

Time is money. For this reason, in the 24-hour forex market, timing is critical. Good timing produces good profits. Yes, but which are the best hours/times to trade?

The hot zone is between 13.00 GMT and 16.00 GMT. This is the time when the london and new york sessions overlap.

What makes these hours powerful? Volume and volatility, because they reach their peak during these hours! During this time, the market is busy with active participants, currencies move very quickly, and the most important economic news is also published in this time period.

Volume means that a large number of lots are sold and/or bought for a particular currency pair; while volatility means that the price moves at a great speed.

Volume and volatility during power hours work like gasoline and a spark of fire. In a good way, though! What’s more, they may cause large movements in almost all currency pairs.

Which currencies to trade?

The currencies that you can trade because of their high activity and large movements are as follows:

Now let’s look at the characteristics of each of the trading sessions.

Asian session (22:00 – 08:00 GMT)

The asian session begins with the sydney open (22:00 GMT) and ends with the tokyo close (08:00 GMT).

Japan is the world’s third largest forex trading center and even though we call it the tokyo session, this is not the only busy forex hub during this period. Hong kong, singapore and sydney are active players here, too.

The most traded currency is the yen, of course, covering 16.5% of all forex transactions.

Now let us have a look at the main features of the tokyo session:

Approximately 21% of all forex transactions are carried out here

Liquidity (i.E. Currency sold without causing significant price movements) can be quite thin at times

Because of this thin liquidity most currency pairs will trade within a range, especially if there is a big move in the preceding new york session

Most activity takes place at the beginning of the session, as this is the time when economic news is released

As during the asian session economic news from australia, new zealand and japan come out, you will most likely see stronger moves in pairs that contain JPY, AUD and NZD.

London session (08:00-16:00 GMT)

London is considered the capital of forex and although there are several financial centers all around europe, it is london that attracts the main interest as the key financial center. It is no wonder because the london session:

Has a huge trading volume (over 32% of all forex transactions are carried out here)

Has high liquidity

Is the period with most market uptrends and downtrends

Has lower spreads

Volatility (i.E. Overall price fluctuations) slows down a bit in the middle of the london period (for the simple reason that most traders are off for lunch) until the new york trading session starts

Market trends may at times reverse just before the session ends as european traders decide to lock their profits.

New york session (13:00-21:00 GMT)

When the london session traders come back from lunch, the new york (US) session starts.

Features that mark the US session are as follows:

Roughly 19% of all forex transactions are carried out here

Big market-moving potential: 85% of trades involve the US dollar

High liquidity in the morning hours when it overlaps the london session

Most economic news reports are released at the beginning of the session

Liquidity and volatility decrease during the afternoon hours

Little movement on friday afternoon + high chances for trend reversal in the second half of the day.

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Trading point of financial instruments limited provides investment and ancillary services to residents of the european economic area (EEA) and the united kingdom.

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By clicking “continue”, you agree to the default cookie settings on our website.

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XM company news

Market holiday schedule and season’s greetings

We are sending our clients our warmest greetings for the upcoming winter holidays, and as the year 2019 is soon coming to an end, we would also like to wish you a happy new year in 2020 with health, fulfilment and success.

Kindly view the trading and customer support hours during the winter holidays in the table below, where the times indicated are in GMT+2 time zone.

Date	customer service hours	trading hours
24/12/2019	early closing 20:00	early closing 18:50
25/12/2019	closed	closed
26/12/2019	normal hours	late opening 09:05
27/12/2019 ,30/12/2019	normal hours	normal hours
31/12/2019	early closing 20:00	early closing 18:50
01/01/2020	closed	closed
02/01/2020	normal hours	late opening 09:05

To view a more detailed schedule of the financial instruments, the trading hours of which will be affected during the winter holidays, please -> click here.

Important notification – january bank holiday
january 5, 2021 at 11:38 am GMT

XM donates to doctors without borders
january 4, 2021 at 1:02 pm GMT

XM donates to dompet dhuafa
december 24, 2020 at 7:00 am GMT

XM supports families and children
december 23, 2020 at 7:50 am GMT

Market holiday schedule and season’s greetings
december 21, 2020 at 2:09 pm GMT

Important notification – january bank holiday
january 5, 2021 at 11:38 am GMT

XM donates to doctors without borders
january 4, 2021 at 1:02 pm GMT

XM donates to dompet dhuafa
december 24, 2020 at 7:00 am GMT

XM supports families and children
december 23, 2020 at 7:50 am GMT

Market holiday schedule and season’s greetings
december 21, 2020 at 2:09 pm GMT

Investment research

Trading point of financial instruments limited provides investment and ancillary services to residents of the european economic area (EEA) and the united kingdom.

This website uses cookies

By clicking “continue”, you agree to the default cookie settings on our website.

For more information please read our cookie policy.

This website uses cookies

By clicking “continue”, you agree to the default cookie settings on our website.

Read more, or change your cookie settings.

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Cookies are small data files. When you visit a website, the website sends the cookie to your computer. Your computer stores it in a file located inside your web browser.

Why are cookies useful?

Here is an overview of some of the functions our cookies provide us with:

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Market trading hours

All times are GMT unless otherwise stated.

Trading hours
1 november to 13 march 2021 - times GMT

cryptocurrencies
product		open		close		daily break
bitcoin	BTC	22:00	sunday	22:00	friday
ethereum	ETH	22:00	sunday	22:00	friday
ripple	XRP	22:00	sunday	22:00	friday
opening and closing of cryptocurrencies deals is 24/7 on web platforms, except sunday 07:00 - 10:00 GMT due to maintenance of our systems.

product		open		close		daily break
Currencies
majors & minors	22:00	sunday	22:00	friday	21:55 - 22:05 (MT4)
swiss franc	CHF	22:00	sunday	22:00	friday	22:00 - 23:00 (MT4)
exotic currencies
israeli shekel	ILS	06:30	weekdays	16:00	mon-thu / 12:00 friday
chinese yuan	CNH	00:00	monday	18:00	friday
mexican peso	MXN	22:30	sunday	22:00	friday	22:00 - 23:00 (MT4)
swedish krona	SEK	22:30	sunday	22:00	friday	22:00 - 23:00 (MT4)
norwegian krone	NOK	22:30	sunday	22:00	friday	22:00 - 23:00 (MT4)
south african rand	ZAR	22:30	sunday	22:00	friday	22:00 - 00:00 (MT4)

product		open		close		daily break
metals
gold	XAU	23:00	sunday	21:55	friday	21:55 - 23:00
silver	XAG	23:00	sunday	21:55	friday	21:55 - 23:00
palladium	XPD	23:05	sunday	21:55	friday	21:55 - 23:05
platinum	XPT	23:05	sunday	21:55	friday	21:55 - 23:05
copper	CPR	23:00	sunday	22:00	friday	22:00 - 23:00

product		open		close		daily break
energy products
WTI crude	OIL	23:00	sunday	22:00	friday	22:00 - 23:00
brent oil	BRT	01:00	weekdays	22:00	weekdays
heating oil	HEO	23:00	sunday	22:00	friday	22:00 - 23:00
gas oil	GAS	01:00	weekdays	22:00	weekdays
natural gas	NGS	23:00	sunday	22:00	friday	22:00 - 23:00

product		open		close		daily break
commodities
wheat	WHT	01:00	weekdays	19:10	weekdays	13:40 - 14:30
corn	CRN	01:00	weekdays	19:10	weekdays	13:40 - 14:30
soybeans	SOY	01:00	weekdays	19:10	weekdays	13:40 - 14:30
cotton	CTN	02:00	weekdays	19:15	weekdays
coffee	CFE	09:15	weekdays	18:25	weekdays
sugar	SGR	08:30	weekdays	17:55	weekdays
cocoa	CCO	09:45	weekdays	18:25	weekdays

product		open		close		daily break
indices
US 500	SPI	23:00	sunday	21:15	friday	21:15 - 21:30 and 22:00 - 23:00
US 30	DOW	23:00	sunday	21:15	friday	21:15 - 21:30 and 22:00 - 23:00
US tech	NDQ	23:00	sunday	21:15	friday	21:15 - 21:30 and 22:00 - 23:00
UK 100	FTS	01:00	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
germany 30	DAX	00:15	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
EU stocks 50	ESX	00:15	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
france 40	CAC	07:00	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
swiss 20	SWI	07:00	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
australia	ASX	22:50	sunday	20:00	friday	05:30 - 06:10 and 20:00 - 22:50
japan 225	NKI	23:00	sunday	22:00	friday	22:00 - 23:00
hong kong 50	HSX	01:15	weekdays	19:00	weekdays	04:00 - 05:00 and 08:30 - 09:15
china 50	CNX	01:00	weekdays	20:45	weekdays	08:30 - 09:00
india 50	IND	01:00	weekdays	20:45	weekdays	10:10 - 10:45
USD index	USX	23:00	sunday / 01:00 tuesday-friday	21:55	weekdays
fear	VXX	23:00	sunday	21:15	friday	21:15 - 21:30 and 22:00 - 23:00

product		open		close		daily break
shares
alibaba	BAB	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
amazon	AMZ	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
apple	APL	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
facebook	FBK	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
netflix	NFX	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
tesla	TSL	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
coca-cola	CCA	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
intel	INT	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
johnson & johnson	JNJ	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
mcdonald's	MCD	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
microsoft	MSF	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
ford	FRD	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
chevron	CVX	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
visa	VSA	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
AT&T	ATT	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
cisco	CSC	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
exxon	EXO	14:35	weekdays	21:00	weekdays
adidas	ADS	08:05	weekdays	16:30	weekdays	12:00 - 12:03
allianz	ALV	08:05	weekdays	16:30	weekdays	12:00 - 12:03
bayer	BAY	08:05	weekdays	16:30	weekdays	12:00 - 12:03
BNP paribas	BNP	08:05	weekdays	16:30	weekdays
commerzbank	CBK	08:05	weekdays	16:30	weekdays	12:00 - 12:03
daimler	DAI	08:05	weekdays	16:30	weekdays	12:00 - 12:03
iberdrola	IBE	08:05	weekdays	16:30	weekdays
L.V.M.H	LVT	08:05	weekdays	16:30	weekdays
siemens	SIE	08:05	weekdays	16:30	weekdays	12:00 - 12:03
volkswagen	VOW	08:05	weekdays	16:30	weekdays	12:00 - 12:03
ANZ	ANZ	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
BHP	BHP	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
commonwealth	CBA	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
CSL	CSL	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
goodman	GMG	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
insurance australia	IAG	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
macquarie	MQG	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
national australia bank	NAB	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
RIO tinto	RIO	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
suncorp	SUN	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
telstra	TLS	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
wesfarmers	WES	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
westpac	WBC	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
woodside	WPL	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
woolworths	WOW	23:10	sunday	05:00	weekdays
tencent	TCT	01:35	weekdays	08:00	weekdays	04:00 - 05:00
AIA	AIA	01:35	weekdays	08:00	weekdays	04:00 - 05:00
HSBC	HBC	01:35	weekdays	08:00	weekdays	04:00 - 05:00
bank of china	BOC	01:35	weekdays	08:00	weekdays	04:00 - 05:00
CNOOC	CNO	01:35	weekdays	08:00	weekdays	04:00 - 05:00
toyota	TOY	00:05	weekdays	06:00	weekdays	02:30 - 03:30
softbank	SFT	00:05	weekdays	06:00	weekdays	02:30 - 03:30
sony	SNY	00:05	weekdays	06:00	weekdays	02:30 - 03:30
mizuho	MZH	00:05	weekdays	06:00	weekdays	02:30 - 03:30
honda	HON	00:05	weekdays	06:00	weekdays	02:30 - 03:30

Daylight savings time (DST) is generally applicable in autumn and spring; however, it is not equally applicable to all instruments. There will be instruments that apply DST to USA times, with the EU or APAC times, while others may not apply DST at all. Our trading times are updated in the table below to reflect these changes as accurately as possible.

The table above shows the trading hours per instrument so you know when orders must be settled and find trading opportunities according to when a market opens or closes.

Easytrade is available from monday 00:00GMT until friday 20:55GMT; the last expiry time. European and asian indices open 1 hour after the above scheduled trading hours. All instruments close with last expiry time as per the above schedule.

What our traders say about us

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Trade responsibly: cfds and options are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 74% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how cfds and options work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Please refer to our full risk disclaimer. Easy forex trading ltd (cysec – license number 079/07).

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Trading hours of stock markets around the world

Stock market opening times are the hours that stock exchanges are open for business and reflect an exchange’s geographic location. Learn about the major stock market hours and how to trade on the world’s major stock exchanges.

Opening and closing times of the world’s major stock exchanges

Stock markets around the world have different trading hours, depending on your current geographic location. The tables below set out the trading hours for the major and minor stock exchanges in the world according to monthly trading volume.

Stock exchange	trading hours (GMT)*	trading hours (local time)*	major stock indices
new york stock exchange	2.30pm - 9pm	9.30am – 4pm (no lunch break)	dow jones, S&P 500
NASDAQ	2.30pm - 9pm	9.30am – 4pm (no lunch break)	NASDAQ 100
japan exchange group	12am - 6am (lunch from 2.30am - 3.30am)	9am – 3pm (lunch from 11.30am – 12.30pm)	nikkei 225
shanghai stock exchange	1.30am - 7am (lunch from 3.30am - 5am)	9.30am – 3pm (lunch from 11.30am – 1pm)	SSE composite (SSE index)
hong kong stock exchange	1.30am - 8am (lunch from 4am - 5am)	9.30am – 4pm (lunch from 12pm – 1pm)	hang seng index
euronext	8am - 4.30pm	9am – 5.30pm (no lunch break)	AEX (amsterdam), CAC 40 (paris)
london stock exchange	8am - 4.30pm	8am – 4.30pm (no lunch break)	FTSE 100, FTSE 250
shenzhen stock exchange	1.30am - 7am (lunch from 3.30am - 5am)	9.30am - 3pm (lunch from 11.30am - 1pm)	SZSE component index
TMX group (toronto stock exchange)	2.30pm - 9pm	9am – 4pm (no lunch break)	S&P/TSX composite index
bombay stock exchange	3.45am - 10am	8am – 3.30pm (no lunch break)	BSE SENSEX

IG offers share trading and share dealing on over 12,000 internationally-listed stocks from the above exchanges.

Trading shares with financial derivatives including spread bets and cfds enables you to speculate on prices rising or falling .

You won’t take ownership of the underlying shares, but you will trade with leverage which enables you to receive increased market exposure for a deposit – known as margin.

Share dealing means that you are taking direct ownership of the shares. As a result, you’ll hold a stake in the underlying company, and you’ll profit if the shares increase in value. You could also receive dividend payments, providing the company issues them.

IG offers share dealing with $0 commission on US shares 1 , and £3 commission on UK shares 1 . Below, you’ll find a comparison between our best rates, and those of our competitors:

provider	FX conversion fee	US best commission 1	US standard commission
IG	0.5%	£0	£10
hargreaves lansdown	1.0%	£5.95	£11.95
AJ bell	1.0%	£9.95	£9.95

provider	UK best commission 1	UK standard commission
IG	£3	£8
AJ bell	£4.95	£9.95
hargreaves lansdown	£5.95	£11.95

After-hours stock trading

IG offers out-of-hours trading on 70 key US shares, enabling you to trade outside the normal window of 2.30pm to 9pm (UK time).

Our hours for trading US shares are from 9am to 1am (UK time) monday to thursday, and 9am to 10pm on friday.

Extended hours are also available to our share dealing clients. We offer pre-market and after-market share dealing from 12pm to 10.30pm (UK time) monday to thursday, and 12pm to 10pm on friday.

Follow the steps below to trade out- of- hours stocks with IG.

How to trade out of hours

Create an IG trading account

Search for the stock you want to trade

Decide whether to go long or short

Choose the number of shares you want to trade

Confirm your trade and monitor your position

Stock market trading hours

Stock market opening times vary in each country, depending on the local working hours and culture. Most stock markets around the world will be open for trading from monday to friday, and will be closed on the weekends. Some stock exchanges such as a majority of those in asia stop for a lunch break, while others – including those in europe and north america – do not.

This is different for some middle eastern exchanges like the tehran stock exchange which operates from saturday to wednesday. Stock exchanges are also typically closed on public holidays, which differ for each country around the world.

Why do stock exchanges have different trading hours?

S tock market opening times differ by region in order to facilitate the greatest concentration of buyers and sellers during these hours for local – but also international – market participants. By having set hours for trading, stock exchanges ensure that there is concentrated liquidity between their opening and closing bells, rather than sporadic trades throughout the day on a 24-hour basis.

If a trade is made outside of a stock exchange’s trading hours, it will normally be added to a queue of trades that will be executed once the market has opened for that day. However, if a trader does this, their trade may experience slippage from when it was requested to when it was executed. Slippage occurs because the price may change through the night and be different once the opening bell is rung.

Trading hours in north america

North america boasts two of the largest stock exchanges in the world: the new york stock exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ. They trade from 9.30am to 4pm local time (2.30 to 9pm GMT), monday to friday, and do not stop for lunch.*

The NYSE and NASDAQ both offer after-hours trading between 4pm and 8pm local time (9pm to 1am GMT).* this means that trades can still be executed after the exchange itself has shut for the day by using electronic communication networks which match buyers and sellers automatically.

By extending their market opening times in this way, the NYSE and NASDAQ ensure that a higher number of trades can be processed in a single day, often entirely by these electronic systems. However, the risk of trading during extended hours is that there may be less liquidity in the markets because the majority of people will have stopped trading for the day. Equally, orders may be partially filled, meaning that a seller might get a worse price than they had expected for their sale.

American markets are also closed for public holidays, some of which include thanksgiving (fourth thursday of november), new year’s day (1 january), independence day (4 july) and president’s day (third monday in february).

The other major stock exchange on the north american continent is that in toronto, canada’s largest city. The toronto stock exchange operates during the same hours as the NYSE and the NASDAQ, and it is also closed on public holidays. In canada, these include thanksgiving (second monday in october for canada), remembrance day (11 november), boxing day (26 december) and canada day (1 july).

Trading hours in europe

The euronext exchange is the largest in europe and has locations in paris, amsterdam and lisbon, as well as others. Opening and closing times for the euronext exchanges are identical – 8am to 4.30pm (GMT) monday to friday. However, because the hours are fixed across multiple locations they do vary in terms of local hours. For instance, paris is open from 9am to 5.30pm local time, but lisbon operates from 8am to 4.30pm local time to ensure that their hours align.* neither of these exchanges stop for a lunch break.

Another european stock exchange is the london stock exchange (LSE), which is one of the largest and most prestigious exchanges in the world. As can be seen from the table above, the london stock exchange opens at 8am and closes at 4.30pm (UK time), with no lunch break.* the LSE is closed on public holidays, which include good friday (the date changes every year but it is 10 april 2020 and 2 april 2021), may day (first monday in may) and the spring bank holiday (last monday in may).

Trading hours in asia

Normal trading days on the asian exchanges vary, but they mostly keep to the monday to friday template set out by their western counterparts. The shanghai, hong kong and shenzhen stock exchanges all open at GMT +8, with shanghai and shenzhen being open from 1.30am to 7am (GMT). Meanwhile, the tokyo stock exchange stays open an hour later, trading from 1.30am to 8am (GMT).*

Unlike stock exchanges in the west, many asian markets stop for lunch – and these breaks vary in length. For instance, the shenzhen stock exchange has a lunch break every trading day from 12.30pm until 1pm (local time). The shanghai exchange in contrast has quite a long lunch break, lasting for an hour and a half from 11.30am until 1pm (local time) every trading day.*

Usually, asian stock exchanges will declare the holidays that they will not be open in advance. However, for china, public holidays on which stock markets are always closed are chinese new year (the date changes every year, but it is on 25 january 2020 and 12 february 2021), the qingming festival (4 april in 2020 and 2021) and the dragon boat festival (7 june 2019, 25 june 2020 and 14 june 2021). The hong kong stock exchange and shanghai stock exchange are also closed on these days.

For japan, the tokyo stock exchange is closed on coming of age day (second monday of january), national foundation day (11 february) and shōwa day (29 april).

Trading hours in the middle east

Trading hours in the middle east vary depending on the exchange. For instance, the saudi stock exchange, known as tadawul, is open from 10am to 3pm (local time) sunday to thursday – which is 7am to 12pm GMT.* in saudi arabia, the weekend goes from friday to saturday, meaning that the tadawul exchange is one of the few stock exchanges in the world that is open on a sunday.

Notable public holidays in saudi arabia include saudi national day (23 september) and eid-al-fitr, which commemorates the end of ramadan. Other prominent middle eastern exchanges include that in tehran, the capital city of iran. The tehran stock exchange is open from 9am to 12.30pm (local time) saturday to wednesday, which is 5.30am to 9am GMT.* this is because the weekend in iran runs from thursday to friday, rather than saturday to sunday, which are working days.

Iran has the most public holidays in the world, and some of the most substantial are nowruz (19, 20 or 21 march – depending on the year), islamic republic day (usually 1 april but can change depending on the year) and the death of khomeini (4 june).

Middle eastern stock exchanges often follow the days of rest prescribed by religious doctrine rather than the model set out by western stock exchanges. Meaning their stock market opening times and working days are usually different to the exchanges in north america, europe, asia and oceania. Neither the saudi stock exchange or the tehran stock exchange stop for a lunch break.

Trading hours in oceania

The australian securities exchange (ASX) is the largest stock exchange in oceania. Stock market trading hours for ASX are from 10am to 4pm (local time) monday to friday, which is 12am to 6am GMT. Like most exchanges outside of asia, trading on the ASX does not stop for lunch.*

Australia has several national public holidays during which the stock markets are closed. Notable examples would be australia day (26 january), anzac day (25 april), christmas day (25 december) and boxing day (26 december). There are also a number of public holidays in the different territories, but traders should check those for new south wales, because this is where the ASX is located.

New zealand is another finance hub in oceania, and its largest exchange – new zealand stock exchange (NZSX) – is open from 10am until 4.45pm local time. This translates to 10pm to 5am GMT, and the NZSX does not stop for lunch.*

Footnotes

1 IG’s best commission is available to active clients who place three or more trades in the previous calendar month.
*the hours mentioned in this article are set by each individual exchange and may vary. Hours change as countries shift to and from daylight savings time.

So, let's see, what we have: forex market hours use the below forex market clock to check where your current time is in relation to the 4 major forex trading sessions (sydney, tokyo, london and new york). You can also at xm market open time