What you'll learn
- Name the four sessions and their approximate hours
- Describe what each session is like
- Convert session times into your own time zone
The four sessions
| Session | Hours (UTC, winter) | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 22:00 to 07:00 | Quiet; the week opens here. AUD and NZD most active. |
| Tokyo | 00:00 to 09:00 | Moderate; yen pairs busiest. Ranges are often narrow for European pairs. |
| London | 08:00 to 17:00 | The busiest session. Trends often start here. All pairs active. |
| New York | 13:00 to 22:00 | Busy through the London overlap, quieter after 17:00 UTC. US data releases land here. |
Daylight saving shifts the picture
Session times are set by local business hours, so they move when clocks change. London hours shift an hour earlier in UTC during British Summer Time, and New York's during US daylight time, and the two do not change on the same date. Rather than memorise it, use the market hours tool, which shows every session in your own time zone right now.
Fitting the market to your day
A trader in Europe can catch the London open and the New York overlap in an ordinary working day. A trader in Australia has the Asian session in the morning and the London open in the evening. A trader in the Americas has New York in the daytime and Sydney and Tokyo overnight. The pairs you should watch follow from that: it is far easier to trade AUD/JPY well from Sydney than from New York.
Key takeaways
- Four sessions, Sydney to New York, cover the clock from Sunday evening to Friday evening.
- London is the busiest, and the London and New York overlap is the busiest window of all.
- Session times shift with daylight saving; the tool shows them in your zone.
- Choose pairs whose active hours match the hours you can trade.
Knowledge check
Trading forex, CFDs and other leveraged products carries a high risk of losing money. This lesson is general education, not advice. Risk disclosure.