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Sessions and events

The New York session:the overlap and the data.

The New York session is the US trading window, conventionally 08:00 to 17:00 New York time: 13:00 to 22:00 UK time for most of the year. Its first four hours overlap London, and most scheduled US data, including the monthly payrolls report, lands at 08:30 New York time, early in the session. The hours are a convention.

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When the New York session is, in other time zones

Quoted in New York time the session is fixed. Converted, it moves when the US changes its clocks, and in the UK it also shifts for the few weeks when the two countries' clock changes do not line up.

The New York session converted
ClockUS winterUS summer
New York08:00-17:0008:00-17:00
UK13:00-22:0013:00-22:00, or 12:00-21:00 in the out-of-step weeks
India (IST)18:30-03:3017:30-02:30

Conventions, not official hours: sources differ by up to an hour at either end. Your GFN account runs on the instrument schedule, not on these.

The London overlap

From 08:00 to 12:00 New York time London is still open, and the two largest forex centres trade together. For the dollar pairs and gold this is usually the most active stretch of the day. After London closes, the New York afternoon is typically thinner and slower.

The US releases inside the session

The US data calendar is concentrated in the New York morning. The Employment Situation report - non-farm payrolls - and the consumer price index are released at 08:30 New York time, and the US equity market opens an hour later.

Federal Reserve decisions arrive later in the day: the FOMC statement at 14:00 New York time on the day a scheduled meeting ends, followed by the Chair's press conference. Both can move every dollar-priced market.

Step by step

How to identify it

Place the New York session on your clock, then place the day's scheduled releases inside it.

  1. Start from 08:00-17:00 New York time.
  2. Check whether the US is on daylight time: from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November.
  3. Convert to your own clock, remembering the UK weeks when the two countries are out of step.
  4. Look up the day's scheduled releases on an economic calendar and mark them in the same clock.
  5. Check the instrument schedule on your account for the actual hours of what you trade.

Worked example

The concept,walked through

A payrolls Friday on the clock, described

An illustrative timeline in words. It is not a record of any real release or price.

  1. 1. 08:00 New YorkThe New York session opens: 13:00 UK, 17:30 IST in US summer. London has been open for five hours.
  2. 2. 08:30 New YorkThe payrolls report is released. Spreads widen in the seconds around it and the first move can reverse.
  3. 3. 12:00 New YorkLondon closes. The overlap ends and activity usually falls through the afternoon.

The timeline shows when volatility is scheduled, not which way it will go. On a funded GFN account, the rule on trades around high-impact releases applies to the 08:30 release.

Common mistakes

Where tradersgo wrong

Opening a position minutes before 08:30 New York time

A trade opened before a release carries its full move, whether or not it had anything to do with the data.

Treating the whole session as active

The afternoon after London closes behaves differently from the overlap.

Converting from last season's table

New York moves by an hour in UK and IST twice a year, and UK traders face extra out-of-step weeks.

Limitations

What it cannottell you

No chart concept predicts price. These are the limits worth keeping in view.

  • The session's boundaries are conventions, and activity does not switch on and off at them.
  • Scheduled releases make volatility likely, not direction predictable; the first move after a release often reverses.

In an evaluation

Using it on asimulated account

On a funded GFN account, profits from trades opened or closed within 3 minutes before or after a relevant high-impact release may be removed. News trading is permitted during evaluations, but the daily loss limit - 3% on Instant and 5% on 1 Step and 2 Step - counts a slipped stop in full.

The minimum hold time is 2 minutes. A plan to take a few seconds of a release's first move does not fit it.

Trading rule

Can I trade the news?

The ±3 minute window on funded accounts.

Trading rule

Does slippage excuse a breach?

Releases are where spreads widen and stops slip.

Trading rule

Can I scalp?

Short-term trading is allowed, with a 2 minutes minimum hold.

Questions

Asked aboutthis concept

At 13:00 UK time for most of the year, closing at 22:00. For a few weeks each March and October-November, when the US and UK clocks are out of step, it opens at 12:00 UK time.

At 17:30 IST during US daylight time and 18:30 IST in the US winter, on the usual 08:00 New York convention.

Keep learning

Relatedlessons

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Trading Sessions: Asia, London and New York

How the 24-hour forex day divides into the Asian, London and New York sessions, when they overlap, and why the hours move twice a year.

Sessions and market events

London Session: Times and How It Trades

The session that carries the largest share of forex turnover: its conventional hours, its open, and the overlap with New York.

Sessions and market events

NFP Meaning: Non-Farm Payrolls Explained

Non-farm payrolls: what the number measures, what else is in the report, when it lands, and why its first seconds are the hardest to trade.

Sessions and market events

What Is FOMC? The Fed Meeting, Explained

The Federal Reserve committee behind US interest rates: its members, its eight scheduled meetings, and how a decision day plays out in markets.

Sessions and market events

Opening Range Breakout (ORB) Strategy

ORB - marking the high and low of a session's first minutes and trading a break of either side, with the choices and risks that come with it.

Sources

What this pagerelied on

  1. Daylight saving time - National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 23 September 2026. US daylight time runs from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November.
  2. When do the clocks change? - GOV.UK. Retrieved 23 September 2026. UK clocks: GMT in winter, BST (GMT+1) from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October.
  3. The Employment Situation - US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 22 September 2026. What the report contains - the establishment and household surveys - and its 8:30 a.m. Eastern release time.

Educational content only, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. Chart concepts describe what price has done; none of them predicts what it will do, and trading any strategy can lose money. Get Funded Now accounts are simulated and trade virtual funds. Last reviewed 22 September 2026.

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