CandleGPTForex trading sessions: Asia, London and New York
The forex market is open 24 hours a day, five days a week, but it does not move the same way all day. Here are the three main sessions, their hours, the overlap that matters most, and why your own results probably differ by session.
The hours
Approximate hours, in winter (Europe and the US on standard time). Sessions have no official bell: these are the usual reference hours.
| Session | UTC | Paris | New York |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 22:00 – 07:00 | 23:00 – 08:00 | 17:00 – 02:00 |
| Tokyo (Asia) | 00:00 – 09:00 | 01:00 – 10:00 | 19:00 – 04:00 |
| London | 08:00 – 17:00 | 09:00 – 18:00 | 03:00 – 12:00 |
| New York | 13:00 – 22:00 | 14:00 – 23:00 | 08:00 – 17:00 |
In summer, London and New York start one hour earlier in UTC. Europe and the US do not change clocks on the same day: for one to three weeks in March and in October/November, the gap between Paris and New York is 5 hours instead of 6. Check your calendar in those weeks.
The week opens on Sunday evening (around 23:00 Paris time) and closes on Friday evening.
Asian session
Usually the quietest for EURUSD and GBPUSD: smaller ranges, ranges that later strategies use as a reference (see the London breakout). The yen, the Australian and New Zealand dollars are more active. Gold can move on Asian demand and on overnight news, but often less than later in the day.
London session
The biggest share of daily forex volume. The open often brings a strong move on EUR, GBP and CHF pairs, and on gold. Many European figures come out between 08:00 and 11:00 Paris time.
The London–New York overlap
From about 14:00 to 18:00 Paris time, both centres are open. It is often the most active window of the day, for currencies, gold and US indices. Major US figures come out at 14:30 Paris time (8:30 New York), and the US stock market opens at 15:30 Paris time. It is also when spreads are usually tightest, and when moves are fastest.
New York session
US data, Fed speeches and decisions (Fed decisions are usually at 20:00 Paris time in winter) and the US indices drive the afternoon. After the London close, activity on currencies tends to fade. Around the daily rollover (about 23:00 Paris time), spreads can widen sharply for a few minutes: a bad time to open or to have a tight stop.
Which session suits you?
- The one you can follow. A strategy that needs watching the London open does not work if you are at work.
- The one your market moves in. Indices and gold at the US open behave very differently from EURUSD in Asian hours.
- The one your history says. Many traders lose most of their money in one session without knowing it. Export your history and split the results by hour: remember that the times are in your broker's server time.
CandleGPT does this for you, in MetaTrader
CandleGPT's report shows your results by session and by market, so you can see which hours work for you and which ones cost you money.
See plansTrading involves a high risk of losing money. This guide is educational: it is not investment advice and does not tell you what to buy or sell. Past results do not predict future results.