See which hours of the day are cheap to trade and which hours move, from our own spread and price feeds.
Figures checked on 16 October 2026
Over the last 10 trading days, gold moved most for its cost from 12:00 to 15:00 UTC: 1.5× its average 30-minute move, and the spread you pay there is $0.17, the same as in every other open hour.
Gold is closed 21:00 to 22:00 UTC. Spread: 13 accounts, Mon to Fri since 22 Sep 2026.
Sunday open (22:00 to 23:00 UTC): $0.19 spread, 1.1× the weekday hour.
Friday last hour (20:00 to 21:00 UTC): $0.18, 1.1×. Monday to Friday daytime spreads differ by 2% at most.
Cheapest hours by broker (Gold)
| Account | Cheapest 3 hours | Spread then |
|---|---|---|
| XM Ultra Lowday avg $0.30 | 07:00 to 10:00 UTC | $0.29$29 per lot |
| HFM Unlimitedday avg $0.10 | 15:00 to 18:00 UTC | $0.09$8.89 per lot |
| XS.com Eliteday avg $0.15 | 06:00 to 09:00 UTC | $0.14$14 per lot |
| Exness Rawday avg $0.15 | 18:00 to 21:00 UTC | $0.15$15 per lot |
Tap or drag along a row for the hour's figures. Black outline = the 3 hours with the biggest move per unit of spread.
- SpreadWhat one trade costs in that hour, on a typical account.
- MoveHow far the price moves in 30 minutes in that hour.
- Best hoursThe 3 hours that move the most for the spread you pay.
- Past hoursThe map describes past hours, not a signal to trade.
Contents
When Is the Best Time to Trade Forex?
For EURUSD and most other major currency pairs, the best time to trade forex is 12:00 to 16:00 UTC, when the London and New York sessions are both open. In those hours the price moves the most while the spread stays the same, so you get more price move for the same cost.
The table shows the hours when London and New York are both open, in the local time of eight countries.
| Summer | Winter | |
|---|---|---|
| Malaysia | 20:00 to 00:00 | 21:00 to 01:00 |
| Brunei | 20:00 to 00:00 | 21:00 to 01:00 |
| Indonesia (Jakarta) | 19:00 to 23:00 | 20:00 to 00:00 |
| India | 17:30 to 21:30 | 18:30 to 22:30 |
| Pakistan | 17:00 to 21:00 | 18:00 to 22:00 |
| Kenya | 15:00 to 19:00 | 16:00 to 20:00 |
| South Africa | 14:00 to 18:00 | 15:00 to 19:00 |
| Nigeria | 13:00 to 17:00 | 14:00 to 18:00 |
The Winter column applies after London and New York change to winter time. The tool opens in your own time zone, so the map and its best hours are already on your clock, and the Time zone menu shows them for another country or in UTC.
The best hours are also the hours when a trade can move against you the fastest. Set your lot size with the lot size calculator before you trade in them. The map shows how past hours moved, not which way the price will go next.
What Are the Forex Session Times?
In summer, the Tokyo forex session runs from 00:00 to 09:00 UTC, London from 07:00 to 16:00 UTC and New York from 12:00 to 21:00 UTC. Each session follows the business day of its city, so London and New York start one hour later in UTC when their winter time begins.
Session hours in UTC
| Summer | Winter | |
|---|---|---|
| Tokyo | 00:00 to 09:00 | 00:00 to 09:00 |
| London | 07:00 to 16:00 | 08:00 to 17:00 |
| New York | 12:00 to 21:00 | 13:00 to 22:00 |
London changes to winter time on the last Sunday of October and New York on the first Sunday of November. Tokyo has no winter time, so its hours stay the same all year.
Besides Tokyo, London and New York, you may also see a Sydney session in other session tables. It starts around 21:00 UTC, and that first hour has the widest spreads of the day on currency pairs, as the rollover hour figures further down show.
To mark the sessions on your own MT5 or MT4 chart, use our free LocalTime indicator. It shows your own time on the chart, and you can put a coloured line at the times you choose, such as the London open and the New York open.
To choose which market to trade in each session, see the session ranking on our best forex pairs page. It lists the markets that move the most for their trading cost in Tokyo, London and New York hours.
When Is the Best Time to Trade Gold?
In every hour that the market is open, gold’s spread is about $0.17, so the best time to trade gold depends only on when the price moves. That is the spread on a typical trading account, which is the middle one of the 13 accounts we track.
Many traders expect gold spreads to widen in the Asian hours, but in our data the spread in the Asian hours is the same as in the London hours.
In our recent data, gold moved the most at the start of the Tokyo session, from 00:00 to 03:00 UTC, and at the New York open, from 12:00 to 14:00 UTC. In both periods, gold moved about 1.6 times as much as in an average hour. From India or Indonesia, the Tokyo start is in your morning and the New York open is in your evening.
Gold closes for one hour every day, from 21:00 to 22:00 UTC. For the opening and closing times in your time zone, see our gold market hours page.
When gold opens again on Sunday, the gold spread in the first hour is about 7% wider than in a normal weekday hour. That difference is small, so the Sunday open adds little to the cost of a gold trade.
Which Hours Should You Avoid?
On currency pairs, the hour to avoid is the rollover from 21:00 to 22:00 UTC, when the spread at a typical trading account is 5 to 10 times the spread of a normal hour. This hour is the end of the trading day in New York. Few banks quote prices in the first minutes of the new day, so the spread widens and the average of the hour jumps.
Spread at a typical trading account
| Other hours | 21:00 UTC | |
|---|---|---|
| EURUSD | 0.7 pips | 3.5 pips |
| GBPUSD | 0.8 pips | 7.8 pips |
| USDJPY | 1.2 pips | 7.5 pips |
| EURJPY | 1.3 pips | 11.8 pips |
The spread is also wider in the first hour after the market opens on Sunday, from 22:00 to 23:00 UTC. On the seven currency pairs in the map, the spread in that hour is 1.5 to 2.4 times the spread of a normal hour, and in the next hour it is back to normal.
Stock indices and oil have wider spreads at night, when their home markets are closed. GER40 (DAX) shows this most clearly. From 00:00 to 06:00 UTC, its spread on a typical trading account is about 4.2 points, compared with 1.3 points during the European day.
On US oil (WTI), the spread in the same hours is about 1.9 times the daytime spread. So if you live in Asia and trade stock indices or oil, their spreads fall when the European morning starts.
Stock indices also keep different hours at each broker. Our forex market hours page shows when GER40 and the other indices open and close at each broker, in your time zone.
Does the Day of the Week Matter?
On gold and the six major currency pairs, the day of the week makes almost no difference to the spread. From Monday to Friday, the daytime spread differs by 2% at most, so a trade on Monday and a trade on Friday at the same hour cost you the same.
The tool also gives two hours of the week separately, the Sunday open and the last hour on Friday. In our data, only the Sunday open has a wider spread. In the last hour on Friday, the spread is the same as in that hour from Monday to Thursday, so you can close a trade before the weekend at the usual cost.
How Is the Map Calculated?
ForexFanClub’s map compares the spread of 13 trading accounts at XM, HFM, XS and Exness with the price move of each hour of the day, for 17 instruments.
How the map is built
- Trading cost
- Spread plus commission for one round trip, read twice an hour from 13 trading accounts at XM, HFM, XS and Exness, Monday to Friday over the last 30 days.
- Typical trading account
- The median of the 13 accounts. The broker table in the tool shows the cheapest account at each broker, and the lowest spread comparison compares these accounts on every instrument.
- Price move
- The average gap between two prices 30 minutes apart, from our own MT5 accounts at XM, HFM and Exness. The map uses the middle value of the three, over up to the last 20 trading days.
- Best hours
- The 3 hours in a row in which the price moves the most compared with the spread. Hours when the market is closed are left out.
- Closed hours
- Hours with too few quotes at the tracked brokers, such as gold from 21:00 to 22:00 UTC.
- How often it updates
- Every 5 minutes. The same figures are in a JSON file, latest.json.
Two prices 30 minutes apart miss the highs and lows between them, so the move in the map is smaller than the full range of the hour. It still compares the hours fairly, because every hour is measured in the same way.
Questions People Ask About the Best Time to Trade
- Where can I see the spread by hour at my own broker?
-
The broker table in the tool shows the cheapest 3 hours at XM, HFM, XS and Exness for the instrument you choose. It lists the cheapest trading account at each broker, with the spread in those hours and the average for the day.
For every instrument and account type at one broker, see the XM, HFM, XS or Exness spread page.
- Does the rollover hour affect trades that are already open?
-
Only when a stop-loss or a pending order sits close to the price. You pay the spread when you open and close a trade, so a trade that you hold through the rollover pays no extra spread.
However, a sell trade closes at the ask price, and the ask price rises when the spread widens. So a stop-loss close to the price can close a sell trade before the bid price on the chart reaches it. A buy stop order close to the price can also open a trade early.
- What changes when the clocks change in winter?
-
From the first Sunday of November, the rollover and the daily gold close move to 22:00 to 23:00 UTC, one hour later in UTC. The London and New York sessions also start one hour later, so the overlap runs from 13:00 to 17:00 UTC.
The map follows the change by itself, so the hours in the tool are always the ones for the current season.
Which Page Do You Need Next?
After you decide when to trade, the best forex pairs ranking shows which markets move the most for their trading cost. The gold market hours page gives gold’s opening and closing times in your time zone, and the lot size calculator sets the size of your trade.
Once your rebate account is open, link it to Forex FanClub. The member area lists every rebate payment day by day, across every broker you use. Registration is free and takes an email address.
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Person responsible: Hiroki Sakaida, founder of Forex FanClub
Hiroki Sakaida decides what our content and services cover and which features they offer. He also checks content and functionality and decides on revisions and publication. Our Content and Service Policy explains how we produce and check our content and services, including our use of AI.
Risk warning: Forex and CFD trading involve leverage, and you could lose all the money you invest. This article and tool provide information, not investment advice. The amounts shown are calculated from the collected data and do not guarantee the amounts that will apply to your own trades, or any future profit.
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