Broker hours

My broker is now starting the new day at GMT +1 which coincides with 1 hour after the New York close. This is now changing the daily and H4 candle positions and also Fib pivot, support/resistance levels when compared to previously which ending at the NY close.

The last hour of NY is obviously slow but I feel that on some day this late close of day could upset the next day chart position that I choose.

What time of day should brokers ideally close?

You need to be more specific. GMT+1 is a time zone, not a time of day.

I assume you are saying that your broker is in the GMT+1 time zone. Are you also saying that your broker opens a new daily candle at midnight in the GMT+1 time zone?

GMT+1 is the current time zone in London, because the U.K. is now on Daylight Saving Time, and their time zone, BST (British Summer Time), is GMT+1.

GMT+1 is 5 hours ahead of New York. So, midnight GMT+1 (in London) = 7pm EDT (in New York). This is actually [B]2 hours[/B] after the 5pm close of the business day in New York, not 1 hour.

For most aspects of forex trading — for instance, applying daily pivots — the 2-hour difference between 5pm and 7pm is negligible.

A very successful trader on this forum, whose work I follow closely — Michael Huddleston, a.k.a. InnerCircleTrader — switches back and forth between midnight London and midnight New York in evaluating his daily pivots. I use 5pm New York, year-round, and never look at any other start-time for my pivots. Yet, Michael and I see very similar price action, and very similar trade set-ups.

With MT4, it’s possible to adjust daily pivots to any start-time you prefer. In my opinion, if you are now using 7pm New York for your start-time, you’re fine, and there’s no need to adjust. Michael would probably suggest that you also watch midnight New York. Take your choice.

Thanks for the info Clint. Due to the daylight savings, the time of GMT +1 shown on my MT4 platform is now only 6 hours ahead of New York. The broker waits until 00.00 (GMT +1) until changing over days which makes it 6pm in NY. Up until the daylight savings change recently the change over had occured at 5pm NY close.

The start/end of the daily, H4 candles can now differ by 10 - 20 pips which can surely throw me off the best exit and entry points.