On Sunday, March 9, the U.S. and Canada will begin Daylight Saving Time.
Five time zones in the U.S. (including Alaska), and seven time zones in Canada (including New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland), will be affected by this time change.
In the eastern U.S. and Canada, which includes the key New York market, the time zone will change from EST (GMT-5) to EDT (GMT-4). This will change the London / New York time difference from 5 hours (which is typical for most of the year) to 4 hours for a period of 3 weeks.
Also on March 9, Bermuda and Bahamas will begin Daylight Saving Time. Lastly, Brazil has recently returned to (southern hemisphere) Standard Time. These time zone changes are reflected in the Table update which appears below.
Beginning with the opening of the forex market in New York on Monday morning, March 10:
• The opening and closing times of the New York Trading Session will change by one hour for all forex traders EXCEPT traders in the U.S., Canada, Bermuda and Bahamas.*
• The opening and closing times of the other six Trading Sessions will remain unchanged for all forex traders EXCEPT traders in the U.S., Canada, Bermuda and Bahamas.*
*These statements do not apply to Arizona and Hawaii in the U.S., or to certain portions of Canada, because those places do not observe DST.
The Table of Forex Trading Sessions has been updated to reflect these changes. The updates are highlighted in yellow.
Notes following the Table explain the format of the Table and how to use it, and give general information on time zones and time changes.
The next update to the Table will be posted in 3 weeks (when Europe and the U.K. will begin Daylight Saving Time).
How to use this Table:
1. The upper portion of the Table lists the opening time and closing time of the normal (8am-5pm) business day in each of the 7 principal forex trading markets. These opening and closing times are shown for each of 27 different GMT time zones. In most cases, you will be concerned with only one of those 27 time zones — the time zone where you are located.
2. Each horizontal line in the upper portion of the Table refers to a particular GMT time zone. The times shown on that line are local times in that time zone.
3. If you know your current GMT time zone, use the upper portion of the Table to find opening and closing times in 7 markets. The times shown are current, local times in your time zone.
4. If you do not know your current GMT time zone, use the lower portion of the Table to find the correct time zone for your location, for this particular time of year. Then, refer to your GMT time zone in the upper portion of the Table, and read the current opening and closing times in 7 markets.
Example: Let’s say you’re in South Africa, you want to find the opening and closing times for the New York Session, but you don’t know your GMT time zone.
• Step 1 - Go to the lower portion of the Table, and there you will find South Africa listed in the GMT+2 time zone.
• Step 2 - Go to the upper portion of the Table, find the line for GMT+2, and read across to the column labeled “New York Session”, where you will find the times that you are looking for. All the times shown on that line are current, local times in South Africa.
5. The list of countries (and regions) in the lower portion of the Table is far from being a complete list of the countries of the world.
Basically, 3 groups of countries (and regions) are listed in the Table: (1) the 7 principal forex markets (e.g., the U.K., Japan, etc.), (2) some of the countries in the same time zones as the principal markets (which trade simultaneously with those markets), and (3) a few other countries (or regions) included as geographical reference points (e.g., far-eastern Russia, Saudi Arabia, Greenland, etc.).
For a much more complete list of countries, together with DST information for each of them, refer to — Daylight Saving Time Around the World 2014
6. In the Table, times are shown in 24-hour GMT format, in which midnight is designated as 0000 (zero hours). And time zones are shown using GMT offsets (GMT+1, GMT-1, etc.). Some forex websites use UTC times and offsets (UTC+1, UTC-1, etc.), instead of GMT times and offsets. In everyday usage, there is no difference between UTC times and GMT times.
Additional notes on the Table, plus some time zone factoids:
1. The 7 markets shown in the Table are considered to be “principal” forex markets, because —
B[/B] Six of the 7 markets in the Table are the largest forex markets in the world. Listed in order, according to total daily trading volume, they are:
B London.[/B] The London market is, by far, the largest forex market in the world, and, together with Ireland, accounts for 41.1% of worldwide forex trading volume.
B New York.[/B] In this Table, New York represents North America, comprising the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. These three countries transact the vast majority of their currency trading volume in the New York market, and together they account for 20.4% of worldwide forex trading volume.
B Zurich.[/B] The central European market, comprising Switzerland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and more than a dozen other countries, accounts for 14.6% of worldwide forex trading volume. This market is represented in the Table as the Zurich market, but many traders refer to it as the Frankfurt market, or simply as the European market. Central Europe is one time zone ahead of the London market, so there is a period of 8 hours each trading day when these two markets overlap. And there is a three-hour period in each trading day (8am-11am New York time, 1pm-4pm London time, and 2pm-5pm Zurich time) when the three largest forex markets in the world, accounting for a total of 76.1% of worldwide trading volume, are all open at the same time.
BSingapore.[/B] In this Table, Singapore represents the Mainland Asian trading session, comprising Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and Taiwan, all of which are in the GMT+8 time zone year-round. Together, these 4 locations account for 10.9% of total worldwide forex trading volume.
B Tokyo.[/B] The Tokyo market, together with Korea, accounts for 6.3% of worldwide forex trading volume. Tokyo is one time zone ahead of the Mainland Asian (Singapore) market. So, there is a period of 8 hours each trading day when the world’s fourth and fifth largest markets are open at the same time, accounting for a total of 17.2% of total world trading volume (plus some additional volume, 2% or so, coming from the partial overlap of the Sydney and Wellington markets with the Singapore and Tokyo markets).
B Sydney.[/B] The Sydney market accounts for 2.7% of worldwide forex trading volume.
BWellington[/B] (New Zealand). Wellington is included in this list of 7 principal markets because the New Zealand dollar is an important commodity currency — typically referred to as a “comdoll” (commodity dollar). The New Zealand dollar is the tenth most actively traded currency in the world, despite the fact that forex trading in New Zealand accounts for only 0.2% of worldwide forex trading volume.
(Note: the market share percentages listed above are from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) 2013 Central Bank Survey, published in September 2013.)
2. The 7 forex markets in the Table are listed (from left to right) in the order in which they open on a daily basis.
By international agreement, a new calendar day begins at midnight at the International Date Line, in the Pacific Ocean, east of New Zealand. So, a new calendar day begins first in New Zealand, then in Australia, then in Japan, and so forth.
For the purpose of our Table, we are saying that a new business day begins at 8am in each location. So, following the sun, a new business day begins first in New Zealand, then in Australia, Japan, Singapore (and the rest of mainland Asia), then later in Europe, the U.K., and North America.
Looking at a map, it’s clear that the business day progresses from right to left (east to west, as the sun moves across the map). But, our Table reads from left to right, because it’s written in English.
3. The International Date Line splits one time zone down the middle: east of the Line, that time zone is called GMT-12; and west of the Line, the time zone is called GMT+12. When you cross the Line from east to west, you cross from one day on the calendar, into the next day — so, for you, the date changes, but the time of day does not.
On the other side of the world, the Greenwich Meridian (which runs through the London suburb of Greenwich) splits the GMT time zone down the middle. In this case, however, the time zone is the same on both sides of the Meridian: GMT+0.
Altogether, counting the GMT+0 time zone, there are 24 hourly time zones circling the earth, from GMT+12 on the west side of the International Date Line, to GMT-12 on the east side of the Line. In addition, there are several half-hour time zones (for instance, GMT+9½ in Northern Territory, Australia).
4. You will not find the GMT+13 time zone on some time-zone maps. The GMT+13 time zone is an artificial time zone designating New Zealand (and some other Pacific island nations) when they are on Daylight Saving Time. When New Zealand is on Standard Time, their time zone is GMT+12.
There is even a GMT+14 time zone, used by certain Pacific island nations located east of New Zealand. These nations choose to adjust their clocks to correspond to the position of the sun, while remaining on the same side of the International Date Line (and, thus, on the same calendar day) as their important trading partners in New Zealand and Australia.
5. Each sovereign country decides for itself what the time of day shall be within its borders, and therefore what time zone, or zones, the country shall lie within. This can lead to some wild distortions of the time zone map — not to mention a very crooked International Date Line.
China, for instance, has decided that their entire country will be in one time zone (GMT+8), even though it is a very large country (east to west). China extends all the way to Pakistan (GMT+5). So, if you were to walk across the border from Pakistan, into China, you would be stepping across 3 time zones. (And, probably, you would be shot.)
India has decided that they don’t like being either GMT+5, or GMT+6; so, they have established themselves as GMT+5½.
6. Many countries do not observe Daylight Saving Time (DST). In the Table, those countries (or regions) which do not observe DST are marked with an asterisk (*).
In the U.S., the states of Arizona and Hawaii do not observe DST. Portions of Canada and Mexico do not observe DST. In Australia, the states of Queensland, Northern Territory, and Western Australia do not observe DST. Except for Hawaii, this Table ignores the non-DST locations within the U.S., Canada, and Mexico; but, it does list the non-DST states in Australia.
7. For many years, Russia switched back and forth between Standard Time and Daylight Saving Time, twice per year, pretty much in synch with Europe. Then, beginning in 2011, Russia decided to remain on DST permanently. So, now in the important western region of Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg) for example, the time zone remains GMT+4 year-round.
Overall, Russia spans 9 time zones from GMT+12 (on their Pacific coast) to GMT+4 (at their border with Latvia) — but, they skip the GMT+5 time zone, so they actually use 8 of the 9 time zones.
8. Here’s an odd time zone factoid: Daylight Saving Time at the South Pole —
All time zones converge and disappear at the Poles. But, the South Pole has been assigned a time zone. Furthermore, during southern hemisphere summertime, the South Pole goes onto Daylight Saving Time. But, during that time period, the sun never sets at the South Pole. So, what’s the point of Daylight Saving Time there? Wikipedia explains:
“There is no a priori reason for placing the South Pole in any particular time zone, but as a matter of practical convenience the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station keeps New Zealand Time. This is because the US flies its resupply missions (“Operation Deep Freeze”) out of McMurdo Station which is supplied from Christchurch, New Zealand.”
So, when New Zealand goes onto Daylight Saving Time in September each year, the South Pole goes onto Daylight Saving Time, as well.
But, what about the North Pole? Again, from Wikipedia:
“There is no permanent human presence at the North Pole, and no particular time zone has been assigned. Polar expeditions may use any time zone that is convenient, such as Greenwich Mean Time, or the time zone of the country they departed from.”
9. The best website for finding accurate, reliable time-zone and time-conversion information (in my opinion) is — timeanddate.com
That site was used to check (and double-check) all of the times, and time zones, shown in the Table, above. If you find errors in the Table, no doubt the fault will be mine (or yours), not the fault of the timeanddate.com website.
Correction: In the lower portion of the Table, Chile should be shown in the GMT-3 time zone, and should not be highlighted. On April 26, Chile will return to Standard Time, and will move to the GMT-4 time zone.
