What time do the forex sessions open and close in London time?

On a London clock, by the conventional windows this site uses: In mid-January: Sydney 21:00 to 06:00 the next day; Tokyo 00:00 to 09:00; London 08:00 to 17:00; New York 13:00 to 22:00. In mid-July: Sydney 23:00 to 08:00 the next day; Tokyo 01:00 to 10:00; London 08:00 to 17:00; New York 13:00 to 22:00. The windows are a convention, each the business day of its own city, and not an official timetable. Public holidays are not taken into account.

When do the London and New York sessions overlap in London time?

On a London clock the London and New York windows are both open from 13:00 to 17:00 in mid-January and from 13:00 to 17:00 in mid-July. For a few weeks around the clock changes in March and in late October the hours differ by one hour, because Britain and the United States do not change on the same day.

Does the London session start at a different time in summer?

Not on a London clock. The window is kept in local time, so it opens at the same hour on the clock all year. What changes is its time in UTC, which is an hour earlier during British Summer Time, and so its time on any clock that does not change with Britain’s.

Region guide · United Kingdom

Forex market hours in UK time

The London window is the local working day. This page lays the other three sessions and the main exchanges around it on a London clock, and on yours.

The hours in London time Questions to ask about tax

Today

The day on a dial.

One turn is one day on the clock you choose: London, or your own. The rings are the four FX windows, the thin arcs are the exchanges, and the hand is the present moment, read from your device.

Whose clock

Time on this clock--:--

The dial fills in once this page has read your device’s clock.

Computed from your device clock and each venue’s regular weekday timetable. Public holidays and early closes are not reflected. Midnight is at the top and the day runs clockwise. The dark rim marks hours when two FX windows are open together. The clocks offered are reference cities for United Kingdom, and your own.

The four FX windows, today, on this clock

Window	Hours here	Now
Sydney	--:--	…
Tokyo	--:--	…
London	--:--	…
New York	--:--	…

Open together--:--

The exchanges, today, on this clock

Exchange	Regular hours here	Midday break	Now
Sydney ASX	--:--	--:--	…
Tokyo TSE	--:--	--:--	…
Hong Kong HKEX	--:--	--:--	…
Singapore SGX	--:--	--:--	…
Mumbai NSE	--:--	--:--	…
Dubai DFM	--:--	--:--	…
Frankfurt Xetra	--:--	--:--	…
London LSE	--:--	--:--	…
New York NYSE	--:--	--:--	…

“+1” means the window ends after midnight, on the next day of this clock. Times use the 24-hour clock.

In local time

The four sessions and the main exchanges.

On a London clock the London window is, by definition, the working day. Tokyo is open overnight and overlaps the first part of the London morning; New York opens after midday and closes in the evening; Sydney opens late in the evening.

The afternoon, when London and New York are both open, is the best-known overlap of the day.

On a London clock

the United Kingdom; Ireland and Portugal keep the same clock.

Open	Mid-January	Mid-July
Sydney session	21:00–06:00 +1	23:00–08:00 +1
Tokyo session	00:00–09:00	01:00–10:00
London session	08:00–17:00	08:00–17:00
New York session	13:00–22:00	13:00–22:00
Sydney ASX	23:00–05:00 +1	01:00–07:00
Tokyo TSE	00:00–06:30break 02:30–03:30	01:00–07:30break 03:30–04:30
Hong Kong HKEX	01:30–08:00break 04:00–05:00	02:30–09:00break 05:00–06:00
Singapore SGX	01:00–09:00break 04:00–05:00	02:00–10:00break 05:00–06:00
Mumbai NSE	03:45–10:00	04:45–11:00
Dubai DFM	06:00–11:00	07:00–12:00
Frankfurt Xetra	08:00–16:30	08:00–16:30
London LSE	08:00–16:30	08:00–16:30
New York NYSE	14:30–21:00	14:30–21:00

ScheduleSource: the timetable this site’s clocks useWorked out for 15 January and 15 July 2027, with the time-zone rules known when the page was built. Regular weekday hours; public holidays and early closes are not shown. “+1” means the window ends on the next day of that clock.

The four sessions are conventions: each is roughly the business day of its own city. Foreign exchange has no opening bell. The exchanges are real venues with published hours, and the row for each shows its regular session only.

Two at once

The hours when two sessions overlap.

When two windows are open together, the dealers of two financial centres are at their desks at once. More participants usually means more trading, though not on every day and not in every instrument, and it says nothing about which way a price will move.

On a London clock

Open together	Mid-January	Mid-July
Sydney × Tokyo	00:00–06:00	01:00–08:00
Tokyo × London	08:00–09:00	08:00–10:00
London × New York	13:00–17:00	13:00–17:00
Sydney × New York	21:00–22:00	none

The FX week, as this site counts it, opens on Sunday at 22:00 and closes on Friday at 22:00 on a London clock all year.

Counted from the same windows as the tables above, for the same two days. Individual brokers set their own opening and closing times for the week.

Daylight-saving time

Why the hours shift twice a year.

Britain keeps Greenwich Mean Time in winter and British Summer Time, one hour ahead, from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October.

The United States changes on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November. In the weeks between the two changes New York’s window sits an hour earlier on a London clock than it does for the rest of the year.

Tokyo does not change its clocks, so its window is an hour later on a London clock in summer. Sydney changes the other way, so its window moves by two hours across the year.

Each session window is kept in the local time of its own city. When that city moves its clocks forward for summer, its window starts an hour earlier in UTC, and so an hour earlier on every clock that did not move with it.

The dates differ. The United States and Canada change on the second Sunday of March and the first Sunday of November; Britain and the European Union on the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October; Sydney, in the southern hemisphere, goes the other way, forward in October and back in April. Tokyo does not change at all.

So the timetable has two long settled stretches each year and a few short in-between weeks. The tables on this page show the two settled stretches. The dial shows today, whichever it is.

Governments change these rules from time to time. The dial reads the rules held by your own device; a national time service is the authority.

Holidays

The kinds of day markets close.

The London exchange closes on 1 January, 25 December and 26 December, or on the weekday that stands in for one of them when it falls on a weekend.
Good Friday and Easter Monday, whose dates move each year.
The bank holidays: Mondays in early and late May and in late August.
The day before Christmas and the last trading day of the year have traditionally been half days.

Foreign exchange has no single exchange and no single holiday calendar. On 25 December and 1 January almost every financial centre is shut and little or nothing trades. On other holidays one centre is away and the rest carry on, usually with fewer participants; brokers publish their own hours for those days.

Stock, futures and commodity exchanges are different: each one closes on its own country’s public holidays and publishes its calendar, with any shortened days, well ahead. That calendar is the only reliable list. The clocks and tables on this site show regular weekday hours and know nothing of holidays.

Not advice

Questions to ask about tax.

This site gives no tax or legal advice, and this page states no rule, rate or threshold for any country. How trading is taxed differs from country to country and from person to person. What follows is a list of questions to take to a qualified adviser or to your tax authority, which is where the answers are.

1Where I live, is a gain from trading treated as income, as a capital gain or as something else? Does the answer depend on how often I trade?
2Does the kind of product change the answer: a spot position, a contract for difference, a future, an option, a share?
3Can a loss be set against gains? Against other income? Carried forward to a later year?
4When is a gain or a loss counted: when a position is closed, at the end of the tax year, or when money is withdrawn?
5Which records must I keep, in what form and for how long?
6Will the statements my broker provides be enough, or is something more needed?
7How are costs treated: spreads, commission, overnight financing, data, software?
8In which currency do I report, and which exchange rate do I use to convert?
9Do I have to report an account held with a firm abroad, even in a year with no gain?
10When and how do I declare, and when is payment due?
11Does my situation change any of this: resident or not, employed or self-employed, trading in my own name or through a company?

The same list appears on every region guide, because the questions are the same everywhere. Only the answers differ.

Questions people ask

Forex hours in United Kingdom: three questions.

What time do the forex sessions open and close in London time?: On a London clock, by the conventional windows this site uses: In mid-January: Sydney 21:00 to 06:00 the next day; Tokyo 00:00 to 09:00; London 08:00 to 17:00; New York 13:00 to 22:00. In mid-July: Sydney 23:00 to 08:00 the next day; Tokyo 01:00 to 10:00; London 08:00 to 17:00; New York 13:00 to 22:00. The windows are a convention, each the business day of its own city, and not an official timetable. Public holidays are not taken into account.
When do the London and New York sessions overlap in London time?: On a London clock the London and New York windows are both open from 13:00 to 17:00 in mid-January and from 13:00 to 17:00 in mid-July. For a few weeks around the clock changes in March and in late October the hours differ by one hour, because Britain and the United States do not change on the same day.
Does the London session start at a different time in summer?: Not on a London clock. The window is kept in local time, so it opens at the same hour on the clock all year. What changes is its time in UTC, which is an hour earlier during British Summer Time, and so its time on any clock that does not change with Britain’s.

Also searched asforex market hours GMT · forex hours BST · New York open UK time · Tokyo session UK time

An explanation of a timetable. It is not advice, and the hour of the day says nothing certain about what a price will do.

Trading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to trade foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose.

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