See when what markets open at a glance. Choose between local and my time. Trade with confidence.
Financial markets don't run 24/7. They each operate within a fixed local session, set by the exchange and governed by the timezone it sits in. The world's major exchanges are spread across four main regions: Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Americas. At any given moment, at least one is open.
The times that matter most aren't the individual sessions: they're the overlaps. When two major markets are open simultaneously, volume spikes, spreads tighten, and price moves become more decisive. The London/New York overlap in particular drives the majority of daily forex volume. If you're trading around news or looking for the most liquid conditions, those windows are where to be.
What makes this more complicated in practice is Daylight Saving Time. Exchanges keep fixed local hours year-round, but they don't all shift their clocks on the same date. The US, UK, and EU each change on different weekends in spring and autumn. Meaning the gaps between sessions shrink and stretch by an hour several times a year. The tool above adjusts for this automatically.
Daylight Saving Time. Most major exchanges keep fixed local hours year-round, but the world's clocks don't shift in sync. The US moves in March and November, the UK and EU in March and October, and Japan and China don't observe DST at all. That means the gap between, say, New York and London is 5 hours in summer but 6 hours for a few weeks each spring and autumn. This tool adjusts automatically the times you see always reflect today's actual offsets.
Pre-market (and after-hours) sessions exist on US exchanges from 04:00–09:30 ET and 16:00–20:00 ET respectively. Whether you can trade during them depends entirely on your broker most retail platforms support it, but with important caveats: spreads are much wider, volume is thin, and only limit orders are typically accepted. Major earnings releases often land outside regular hours deliberately, so prices can move sharply. Treat extended hours as a tool for managing positions, not for routine trading.
The window when both London and New York are open roughly 13:30–16:30 UTC accounts for around 70% of daily forex volume. Both the world's largest financial centre and its most liquid currency market are active simultaneously, so bid-ask spreads are at their tightest and price discovery is most efficient. If you trade forex or highly liquid US-listed stocks, this is generally the best window for execution. Outside it, spreads widen and slippage increases.
Yes both Tokyo and Shanghai close mid-session. The Tokyo Stock Exchange pauses from 11:30–12:30 JST, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange from 11:30–13:00 CST. During these windows, trading halts completely on those exchanges orders can still be placed on many platforms but won't be filled until the afternoon session opens. The Sydney ASX trades continuously without a break.
No this tool shows regular trading hours only and does not account for market holidays. Every exchange publishes an annual holiday calendar; your broker's platform will also flag non-trading days. Key dates to watch: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Christmas (affect most Western markets), plus exchange-specific holidays like US Independence Day, Japanese Golden Week, and Chinese New Year. Always verify on your broker's calendar before placing time-sensitive orders.
Local times shows each exchange's hours in its own timezone so New York shows 09:30–16:00 ET, London shows 08:00–16:30 GMT, and so on. This is useful if you're cross-referencing official exchange documentation. My time converts everything to your browser's detected timezone, so you can instantly see which sessions overlap with your own day without doing mental timezone arithmetic. The toggle at the top of the tool switches between both views.
It depends on what you're trading and when you're available not the other way around. US equities demand being around for NYSE/NASDAQ open. European stocks are best during the Frankfurt or London sessions. Forex traders generally target the London/New York overlap for majors, or the Tokyo session for JPY pairs. Trying to trade a market outside its active session leads to poor fills and unnecessary risk. The most sustainable approach is to build a routine around one or two sessions that fit your schedule.