Forex market hours now, which session is open?
The short answer
A forex session is open now if it is a weekday, 8 am to 5 pm, in Sydney, London or New York. Tokyo runs 9 am to 6 pm. Add the four cities to your world clock, so you can see when markets get busy.
A session is open while its city is at work on a weekday
Check the time in London and New York. If it is a weekday between 8 am and 5 pm in either city, that session is open. The table has all four, in local time and UTC, so you can match them to whatever clock you use.
| Session | Local hours, Monday to Friday | UTC, on standard time | UTC, on daylight saving time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 8 am to 5 pm | 22:00 to 07:00 | 21:00 to 06:00 |
| Tokyo | 9 am to 6 pm | 00:00 to 09:00 | No clock change |
| London | 8 am to 5 pm | 08:00 to 17:00 | 07:00 to 16:00 |
| New York | 8 am to 5 pm | 13:00 to 22:00 | 12:00 to 21:00 |
The UTC hours are from Axi’s session table, and the local hours are what they work out to. Session hours are a convention, and other sources differ by an hour.
This page is a timetable, not a live clock, so check your own world clock. A session marks business hours in one city, so local times never shift. Use the UTC columns when your platform or calendar shows UTC.
Each city changes its clocks on its own dates
Each city changes on its own dates, so pick the UTC column city by city. Pick the wrong one and your UTC times are an hour out.
| City | Daylight saving starts | Daylight saving ends | Where we read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | Sunday 4 October 2026 | Sunday 4 April 2027 | NSW Government dates |
| Tokyo | No clock change | No clock change | Axi’s session table |
| London | Last Sunday in March | Last Sunday in October | GOV.UK clock changes |
| New York | Second Sunday in March | First Sunday in November | NIST’s clock rules |
Sydney’s row has dates because its source publishes the next dates, not a rule. We read them on 1 October 2026.
Your broker, not the session label, decides when you can trade
Your broker decides. Forex has no central exchange (BIS survey, April 2025), so each broker publishes its own trading hours.
OANDA, for one, lists forex from Sunday 17:05 to Friday 16:59, New York time (OANDA’s trading hours). Check your own broker’s page before you rely on a session label.
Two sessions are open at once for a few hours a day
London and New York are both open from 8 am in New York to 5 pm in London. For Tokyo and London, it is 8 am in London to 6 pm in Tokyo. Forex session overlap times gives each overlap in UTC and in local time.
Those hours bring more prices and orders at once, so they are good hours to test your connection.
Only a test shows how your connection copes in a session
A session table tells you when banks and desks in that city are at work. Only a test shows how your connection behaves in those hours.
Traders Proxy works with any trading platform that has a proxy setting. Each platform’s maker decides which of its connections use that setting.
Our server opens its own connection to your broker and recovers lost data inside your broker’s city. Trading ports go first when our server is busy.
That helps only on the connection between our server and your broker. How Traders Proxy works shows the full path.
Ping is the time data takes there and back. We don’t promise lower ping. Distance sets the minimum. If your broker prohibits proxies, don’t use one.
A backtest runs on your own machine, so no internet link can lose a piece of data during a news release. In live trading, one lost piece holds up every price update and order behind it. Everything waits while your computer sends it again across the world.
You cannot paste four values into your platform while your chart is already frozen in a live trade. Set it up today while the market is calm. Then time it on your own screen during the next release.
Next steps
- Check your delay hour by hourA busy hour against a quiet one.
- Our server citiesSee whether your broker’s city is listed.
Frequently asked questions
What are the forex session hours in UTC?
When London and New York are on standard time, London is 08:00 to 17:00. New York is 13:00 to 22:00. Tokyo is 00:00 to 09:00 all year, and Sydney, then on daylight saving time, is 21:00 to 06:00.
Do forex session hours change with daylight saving?
Yes, in UTC. A session follows local business hours, so London opens at 08:00 UTC in winter and 07:00 UTC in summer. In local time, nothing moves.
Is the forex market open at the weekend?
Not on OANDA’s schedule, which runs Sunday 17:05 to Friday 16:59, New York time. Check your own broker’s hours.
Is there an hour when no session is open?
By these hours, yes, from early April to early October. New York ends at 21:00 UTC and Sydney starts at 22:00. The labels are a convention, and your broker’s hours decide whether you can trade.
Does a busy session affect my connection?
A timetable cannot tell you. Check your delay in a busy hour and a quiet one, and compare your own numbers. Check your delay hour by hour shows how.
Field reports · Verified forum threads
Real forum reports, what our system does, and where it stops.
Every quote below links to the forum thread or vendor guide where it appeared. Underneath each quote, see which parts of our system work together on it and where our server stops.
MQL5 VPS location can't be chosen and its ping 'jumped'
“Please don't mix up your concepts. 2ms may be for the Ping response time, or in other words, the latency of the network communication. However, there is much more that the server has to do besides the network response”
How local trading avoids it. Pick a server city in your dashboard and switch whenever you like.
- City switchingPrimary
Where it stops. Pick a server city in your dashboard and paste the new server value into your platform. Switching city changes the address your broker sees.
MT5's own Proxy box overwrites, empties or refuses to save what you type
“This is a bug of MT5 - because if you enter proxy in the system and EVEN if it is off, it will always force you to use the proxy entered there.”
Why a proxy does not change this. We change nothing on your computer. The server, login and password go into your platform's own Proxy setting.
- Only the app you set up is routedBoundary
Where it stops. We change nothing on your computer. If a MetaTrader 5 build fails to save its proxy dialog, we cannot repair the terminal window itself.
Order timeouts, 3-minute hangs, 'Off quotes' and 'No connection' when closing
“128 ERR_TRADE_TIMEOUT Trade timeout”
Why a proxy does not change this. Traders Proxy doesn't change spreads, fills or requotes.
Where it stops. Off quotes, Requote and order timeouts are decided by your broker’s server, not by the proxy route.
A country or ISP blocks MQL5 / forex sites (Pakistan thread is about the website, not the trade link)
“Yes , website is not opening without proxy , however i am able to ping the domain. I cannot confirm that isp is blocking in that case domain should not reslove and ping should also not work.”
Why a proxy does not change this. No claim. We don't promise access where a country or network provider blocks a service.
Where it stops. We don't help you reach websites, and some places restrict offshore trading altogether. Check your local rules.
Sources
- Axi, forex market hours, trading sessions and opening times (updated 18 September 2026)Checked
- NSW Government, daylight saving datesChecked
- GOV.UK, when do the clocks changeChecked
- NIST, daylight saving time rules in the United StatesChecked
- OANDA, hours of operation (US site)Checked
- BIS, OTC foreign exchange turnover in April 2025 (published 30 September 2025)Checked