TOOLS · LIVE CLOCK
Forex Market Hours
Which trading centres are at work right now, shown in your own time zone, and when the forex week opens and closes.
By FirstPip editorial team · Updated 2026-10-16 · Educational content · No broker owns this site
Quick answer. Forex has no opening bell. The FX futures market on CME Globex runs from Sunday 5:00 p.m. to Friday 4:00 p.m. US Central Time with a daily one-hour break, about 115 hours a week. Within that, activity follows the business day in the main centres, London above all.
Forex market hours, live
Shown in your own time zone, updated every minute. Nothing is stored.
Loading your local time…
"Business hours" here means 8:00–17:00 local time, Monday to Friday, in each city: a simple convention, not an official session time. "Market week" follows the CME Globex FX futures schedule. Your broker's own trading hours may differ, so check its trading-hours page.
When is the forex market open?
Spot forex has no exchange and no opening bell. Banks and brokers quote each other directly, so trading runs through the working week rather than opening and closing each day. The closest thing to an official clock is the futures market: CME Globex lists FX futures from Sunday 5:00 p.m. to Friday 4:00 p.m. US Central Time, with a 60-minute break each day starting at 4:00 p.m. Central.
That makes the trading week five sessions of 23 hours, about 115 hours rather than the "24/5" people often quote. From Friday afternoon in Chicago until Sunday evening, the market is not quoting.
What are the forex trading sessions?
Sessions exist because trading clusters where the big dealing desks are. According to the Bank for International Settlements' 2025 survey, the United Kingdom handled 38% of global currency trading, more than any other country, and the UK, the United States, Singapore and Hong Kong together handled 75%. When London and New York desks are at work, more of the market is active.
People usually name four sessions after Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York. There is no official start or end time for any of them, and each city changes its clocks for daylight saving on different dates. This tool therefore uses one plain rule, 8:00 to 17:00 local time on weekdays in each city, and lets your browser handle the time-zone and daylight-saving changes. The point is to show which centres are awake, not to give a precise session timetable.
Why does the time of day matter to a beginner?
- Activity is uneven. Because trading is concentrated in a few centres, how busy the market is varies through the day. Your broker's spreads can vary with it, so check the spread you are quoted at the time you actually trade. Our guide to spreads and commissions explains what you pay.
- The week has edges. The market stops quoting over the weekend, so an open position is held through a period when you cannot close it. Many beginners choose to be flat before Friday's close.
- Plan around your own day. If you can only trade in the evening, the chart above shows which centres are at work then. Decide your risk before you choose your hours; the position size calculator and our lesson on risk per trade come first.
Does my broker use the same hours?
Not necessarily. Retail brokers set their own weekly open and close and their own daily break, and they publish them on a trading-hours page, often per instrument. The CME schedule is a reliable reference for the shape of the week, but the hours that count for your trades are your broker's. Read what forex is for why the market has no single opening time.
Frequently asked questions
Is the forex market open 24 hours?
Not quite. It runs continuously through the working week but closes at the weekend. On the CME Globex futures schedule the week runs from Sunday 5:00 p.m. to Friday 4:00 p.m. US Central Time, with a one-hour break each day, which comes to about 115 hours.
What time does the forex market open on Sunday?
On CME Globex, FX futures open at 5:00 p.m. US Central Time on Sunday. Your local time depends on your time zone and daylight saving; the live clock on this page converts it for you. Retail brokers publish their own opening time, which may differ slightly.
What are the forex session times?
There are no official session times. Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York are named as sessions because trading follows their working day, but every broker and website draws the windows a little differently, and daylight saving shifts them. This page uses 8:00 to 17:00 local time in each city as a plain convention.
When is the forex market busiest?
Trading is concentrated where the big dealing desks are: the UK handled 38% of global turnover in April 2025, according to the Bank for International Settlements. That is why more of the market is active while London is at work. This page does not give hour-by-hour figures, because no official source publishes them.
Keep going
Sources
- CME Group — Euro FX futures contract specifications: Globex trading hours Sunday–Friday 5:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. CT, 60-minute break daily from 4:00 p.m. CT
- BIS — Triennial Central Bank Survey 2025: global FX trading $9.6 trillion a day; UK 38% of turnover; UK, US, Singapore and Hong Kong SAR 75% (30 September 2025)
- FirstPip knowledge base — market/forex-trading-hours-and-sessions (S019, S020): session clock times are convention, not published rules