Home Market hours London session
London session
London is the centre of gravity of the foreign exchange market: by settlement volume it handles more than any other centre, and the hours it is open carry the majority of the day’s movement in EUR, GBP and CHF pairs.
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Today, in your timezone
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| Session | Status | Your time | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney08:00 – 17:00 Sydney | — | — | — |
| Tokyo09:00 – 18:00 Tokyo | — | — | — |
| London08:00 – 17:00 London | — | — | — |
| New York08:00 – 17:00 New York | — | — | — |
| London – New York overlapthe busiest window of the day | — | — | — |
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When the London session runs
The London session is defined by the hours London keeps: 08:00 to 17:00 local. In UTC that is 08:00 to 17:00 in January and 07:00 to 16:00 in July.
What only this session has
In April 2022, 38% of the world's foreign exchange turnover was reported by dealers in the United Kingdom, more than any other country and twice the United States' 19%. That is the measured basis for calling London the centre of the market, and it is down from 43% three years earlier.
Two scheduled moments belong to this session alone. The Bank of England publishes its rate decision at midday on a Thursday, which is 07:00 in New York for most of the year. And at 16:00 London time the WM/Reuters closing rates are fixed: the benchmark used to value and rebalance multi-currency portfolios and to build published indices. The window it is calculated over used to be a single minute; the Financial Stability Board recommended widening it, and the change came in February 2015. The 16:00 fix is 11:00 in New York, inside the overlap.
Sources: BIS Triennial Survey 2022 · Bank of England · FSB, Foreign Exchange Benchmarks (2014) · FSB progress report (2015)
What the London session is like
- The open is the sharpest scheduled liquidity event of the European day. Ranges expand quickly in the first hour.
- European data — inflation prints, central bank speakers, PMIs — lands during these hours.
- The last four hours run alongside New York, and that overlap is the busiest window of the entire 24-hour cycle.
What else is open while it runs
| Session | Hours shared | When |
|---|---|---|
| New York | 4h | 12:00 to 16:00 UTC |
| Tokyo | 2h | 07:00 to 09:00 UTC |
| Sydney | none | never at the same time |
London session in every major timezone
| Timezone | Northern winter | Northern summer |
|---|---|---|
| SAST South Africa | 10:00 – 19:00 | 09:00 – 18:00 |
| GMT Reference time | 08:00 – 17:00 | 07:00 – 16:00 |
| EST / EDT United States | 03:00 – 12:00 | 03:00 – 12:00 |
| IST India | 13:30 – 22:30 | 12:30 – 21:30 |
| GST United Arab Emirates | 12:00 – 21:00 | 11:00 – 20:00 |
| CET / CEST Europe | 09:00 – 18:00 | 09:00 – 18:00 |
| EET / EEST Europe | 10:00 – 19:00 | 10:00 – 19:00 |
| JST Japan | 17:00 – 02:00 | 16:00 – 01:00 |
| AEST / AEDT Australia | 19:00 – 04:00 | 17:00 – 02:00 |
| WAT West Africa | 09:00 – 18:00 | 08:00 – 17:00 |
| EAT East Africa | 11:00 – 20:00 | 10:00 – 19:00 |
| PST / PDT United States | 00:00 – 09:00 | 00:00 – 09:00 |
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