The forex market runs 24 hours a day, five days a week. Trading opens on Sunday at 5:00 PM New York time and closes on Friday at 5:00 PM New York time.
As one major financial centre winds down, another comes online. This creates a continuous trading week across Sydney, Tokyo, London, and New York.
Major forex session times
| Session | Typical local hours |
|---|---|
| Sydney | 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM Sydney time |
| Tokyo | 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM Tokyo time |
| London | 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM London time |
| New York | 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM New York time |
These sessions are most useful as a guide to market activity. Liquidity is often highest when major sessions overlap, especially during the London and New York crossover.
Index trading hours
Stock indices, such as the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Dow Jones, FTSE 100, DAX, and Nikkei, are usually most active during their local stock market session. They are not open 24/5 in the same way as forex, but many major indices are available for extended hours because they follow underlying futures markets.
At TabTrade, the majority of indices trade 23 hours per day during the week, from 01:00 MT5 server time to 23:59. ES35, NETH25, and SWI20 trade during local hours only.
Commodity trading hours
Commodity markets also trade across extended global sessions, much like major indices.
Gold, natural gas, WTI oil, and other precious metals usually trade from 01:00 MT5 server time to 23:59 each weekday. Brent crude oil trades through most of the global trading week, but has a longer daily break and resumes at 03:00 MT5 server time.
For other commodities, such as sugar and cotton, check the exact hours through the symbol specification in MetaTrader 5 because hours vary by symbol and time of year.
Stock trading hours
Stock markets work differently from forex. Each exchange has set local trading hours and closes outside its regular session.
| Exchange | Typical local hours |
|---|---|
| New York Stock Exchange / Nasdaq | 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM US Eastern Time |
| London Stock Exchange | 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM UK time |
| Tokyo Stock Exchange | 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM to 3:30 PM Japan Standard Time |
| Euronext Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon, Dublin, Oslo, and Milan | 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM local time |
| Deutsche Boerse / Xetra Frankfurt | 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM German time |
| Bolsa de Madrid | 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM Spanish time |
| Hong Kong Stock Exchange | 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM and 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Hong Kong time |
Cryptocurrency trading hours
TabTrade offers 24/7 crypto trading for all crypto instruments because the underlying market does not break. Apart from maintenance windows, crypto trading can continue over the weekend.
TabTrade MT5 server time
TabTrade aligns MetaTrader 5 server time with the New York 5:00 PM forex close.
This means 00:00 on the MT5 server matches 5:00 PM in New York. Daily FX candles are built around the standard market rollover, which helps avoid short Sunday candles.
With this setup, standard FX pairs display five daily candles across a normal trading week instead of an extra partial candle at the start of the week.
TabTrade adjusts MT5 server time automatically when New York moves between daylight saving time and standard time:
| New York status | MT5 server time |
|---|---|
| Daylight saving time | UTC+3 |
| Standard time | UTC+2 |
You do not need to change any platform settings. TabTrade adjusts the timezone in the background to keep charts aligned with the New York forex close.