Time change reminder --- March / April 2016

Over the next 3 weeks, various countries will go onto, or off of, Daylight Saving Time (DST).

This is a nuisance for forex traders around the world — one we have to contend with every 6 months.

Between early March and early April each year, and then again between late September and early November each year, we go through a transition from northern hemisphere winter to southern hemisphere winter, and then back again.

During these transitions, forex trading session times get shifted backward or forward, by one hour or two hours, depending on where you are in the world and which session you are trading.

We have been tracking these time changes for several years, and by now you all know how to make the necessary adjustments in your trading. All you need is a schedule of the changes which are coming.

So, here goes:

[B]Daylight Saving Time Changes for March/April 2016 in the Principal Forex Markets[/B]

• March 13 — the U.S. and Canada will begin Daylight Saving Time (DST)

• March 27 — the U.K. and all of eastern, central and western Europe will begin DST

• April 3 — southeastern Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart, etc.)
and New Zealand will return to Standard Time

[B]Daylight Saving Time Changes for March/April 2016 in other countries[/B]

• Most of Brazil — returned to Standard Time on February 21

• Bermuda, Bahamas and Cuba — will begin DST on March 13, along with the U.S. and Canada

• Iran — will begin DST on March 21

• Israel and Syria will begin DST on March 25

• the Palestinian territories will begin DST on March 26

• most of Greenland will begin DST on March 26

• Ireland, and the Channel Islands will begin DST on March 27, along with the U.K. and Europe

• Turkey and Lebanon will begin DST on March 27

• Paraguay will return to Standard Time on March 27

• Jordan will begin DST on April 1

• most of Mexico will begin DST on April 3

[B]A partial list of countries which do not observe Daylight Saving Time[/B]

Argentina
Costa Rica
Jamaica
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines


Armenia
Dominica
[B]Japan[/B]
Seychelles


Bahrain
Dominican Republic
[B]Korea[/B]
[B]Singapore[/B]


Belarus
Ecuador
Kuwait
South Africa


Belize
Egypt
Malaysia
[B]Taiwan[/B]


Bolivia
Georgia (Republic)
Marshall Islands
Thailand


British Virgin Islands
[B]Hong Kong[/B]
Panama
United Arab Emirates


Cayman Islands
Iceland
Peru
U.S. Virgin Islands


Chile
[B]India[/B]
Philippines
Venezuela


China
Indonesia
Puerto Rico
Vietnam


Colombia
Iraq
[B]Russia[/B]

See post #2 for details of the time changes which will occur in the U.S. and Canada this weekend.

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On Sunday, March 13, [B]the U.S. and Canada[/B] will begin Daylight Saving Time (DST).

Five time zones in the U.S. (including Alaska), and seven time zones in Canada (including 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 GMT-5 to GMT-4.

Clocks in the U.S. and Canada (and in Bermuda, Bahamas and Cuba) will be turned forward one hour prior to the opening of the forex market on Monday morning, March 14.

• For traders in the U.S.* and Canada*, the New York Session times will not change, but the trading sessions in every other forex market will open and close one hour [I]later[/I] than previously, starting Monday morning, March 14.

• For traders in all other countries, the only change will be that the New York Session will open and close one hour [I]earlier[/I] than previously, starting Monday morning.

*This statement does not apply to Arizona and Hawaii in the U.S., or to certain portions of Canada, because those places do not observe DST.

[B]This change will alter the normal time difference between London and New York:[/B]

For the next 2 weeks — from Sunday, March 13, through Friday, March 25 — the London/New York time difference will be [B]4 hours[/B] (instead of the usual 5 hours).

And, during this same 2-week time period, the heavily-traded London/New York Overlap will be [B]5 hours[/B] (instead of its usual 4 hours), as follows: 12pm-5pm London time, and 8am-1pm New York time.


This is the first Daylight Saving Time change for this season. The session times shown below will apply for the next 2 weeks, through Friday, March 25, 2016.

[B]GMT session times for the 5 major trading sessions[/B]
Sunday, March 13, through Friday, March 25, 2016


Pacific Session
opens at 2100 GMT, closes at 0600 GMT


Asian Session
opens at 2300 GMT, closes at 0800 GMT


European Session
opens at 0700 GMT, closes at 1600 GMT


London Session
opens at 0800 GMT, closes at 1700 GMT


New York Session
opens at 1200 GMT, closes at 2100 GMT

[U]Notes on the Trading Sessions[/U]

  1. Previously, I have divided worldwide trading into 7 sessions. Beginning with this post, I will consolidate Wellington and Sydney into one session labeled “Pacific Session”, and I will consolidate Singapore and Toyko into one session labeled “Asian Session”. The result is a table listing 5 trading sessions.

  2. The opening and closing times of the various trading sessions can be defined only arbitrarily, because all forex markets operate 24 hours per day, 5 days per week. Therefore, to say that an individual market “opens” at a particular time each day, and “closes” at a particular time each day, involves assumptions and requires explanation.

Most writers/teachers/websites/forums/etc. specify either an 8-hour trading session (8am-4pm, or 9am-5pm), or a 9-hour trading session (8am-5pm), in each market. Some sources specify a 9-hour trading session for each market except the Asian market, which is specified as 10 hours in duration (for reasons we’ll discuss in a later post).

My studies of daily forex volume suggest that defining a 9-hour trading day (8am-5pm local time) in each market best captures the price action and volume occuring in that market. So, I have applied those times to each of the 5 trading sessions in the current table.

  1. Here is a brief description of each of the 5 trading sessions. Sessions are listed in the order in which they open on a daily basis.

• [B]The Pacific Session[/B] (also referred to as the Sydney Session)
Countries: Australia and New Zealand
Times shown in the table are 8am-5pm Sydney time
Total trading volume (in 2 countries): [B]194 billion USD per day[/B]

• [B]The Asian Session[/B] (also referred to as the Tokyo Session)
Countries: Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, China, Taiwan, and Philippines
Times shown in the table are 8am-5pm Tokyo time
Total trading volume (in 7 countries): [B]1,154 billion USD per day[/B]

• [B]The European Session[/B] (sometimes referred to as the Frankfurt Session, or the Zurich Session)
Countries: 28 countries in central Europe
Times shown in the table are 8am-5pm in all 28 countries
Total trading volume (in 20 of the 28 countries): [B]972 billion USD per day[/B]

• [B]The London Session[/B]
Countries: the U.K., Ireland, and Portugal
Times shown in the table are 8am-5pm in all 3 countries
Total trading volume (in 3 countries): [B]2,741 billion USD per day[/B]

• [B]The New York Session[/B]
Countries: the U.S., Canada, and Mexico
Times shown in the table are 8am-5pm New York time
Total trading volume (in 3 countries): [B]1,360 billion USD per day[/B]

  1. Trading volume figures are taken from the [I]2013 Triennial Central Bank Survey,[/I] published by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The 2013 Survey is somewhat out of date, at this point, but it’s the most recent one currently available. In September of this year, the 2016 Survey will be released, giving us an up-to-date view of the worldwide foreign exchange market.

  2. Information on times, time zones, and time changes is taken from timeanddate.com

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On Sunday, March 27, [B]the U.K., Ireland, and all of eastern, central and western Europe[/B] will begin Summer Time (what we in the U.S. call Daylight Saving Time - DST).

This time change will involve every country situated between the Russian border and the Atlantic Ocean, except Belarus.

Listed geographically, from east to west —

In eastern Europe (Finland, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, etc.), the time zone will change from GMT+2 to GMT+3.

In central Europe (28 countries from Serbia west to Spain, and from Sweden south to Malta), the time zone will change from GMT+1 to GMT+2.

In western Europe (Portugal), in the U.K. (including the Channel Islands), and in Ireland, the time zone will change from GMT to GMT+1.

Clocks in all of these countries will be turned forward one hour, prior to the opening of the forex market on Monday morning, March 28.

• For traders in all of these countries, opening and closing times in the London Session and the European Session will not change, but the trading session in every other forex market will begin and end one hour [I]later[/I] than previously, starting Monday morning.

• For traders in countries not listed above, the only change will be that the London Session and the European Session will begin and end one hour [I]earlier[/I] than previously, starting Monday morning.


Traders in the U.S. and Canada who trade the London Session and/or the European Session, and traders in the U.K. and Europe who trade the New York session, should be aware that the time difference between London and New York (which has been 4 hours in length for the past 2 weeks) will return to its normal [B]5-hour[/B] duration, beginning Monday morning and continuing until September.

Also beginning Monday morning, the heavily-traded London/New York Overlap Period will return to its normal [B]4-hour[/B] duration, as follows: 1pm-5pm London time, and 8am-12pm New York time.


Here are the forex session opening and closing times for the next 5 trading days.

[B]GMT session times for the 5 major trading sessions[/B]
Sunday, March 27, through Friday, April 3, 2016


Pacific Session
opens at 2100 GMT, closes at 0600 GMT


Asian Session
opens at 2300 GMT, closes at 0800 GMT


European Session
opens at 0600 GMT, closes at 1500 GMT


London Session
opens at 0700 GMT, closes at 1600 GMT


New York Session
opens at 1200 GMT, closes at 2100 GMT

The last Daylight Saving Time change for this season will occur in one week, at which time New Zealand and s.e. Australia will end DST and return to Standard Time.


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On Sunday, April 3, New Zealand and southeastern Australia will end Daylight Saving Time (DST) and return to southern hemisphere Standard Time.

In New Zealand, the time zone will change from GMT+13 to GMT+12.

In southeastern Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart, etc.), the time zone will change from GMT+11 to GMT+10. And in the state of South Australia (Adelaide, etc.), the time zone will change from GMT+10½ to GMT+9½.

Clocks in New Zealand and in southeastern Australia will be turned back one hour, prior to the opening of the forex market on Monday morning, April 4.

• For traders in New Zealand and in southeastern Australia, the forex trading sessions in Wellington and Sydney will not change, but the trading session in every other forex market will begin and end one hour earlier than previously, starting on Monday morning.

• For traders in the rest of Australia, and in all other countries, the only change will be that the forex trading sessions in Wellington and Sydney will begin and end one hour later than previously, starting on Monday morning.

Two additional time changes will occur this month: On April 1, Jordan will begin DST. And on April 3, most of Mexico will begin DST.

These are the last time changes for this season. The next time change will occur in late September.


Here are the forex session opening and closing times for the next 6 months.

[B]GMT session times for the 5 major trading sessions[/B]
Sunday, April 3, through Friday, September 30, 2016


Pacific Session
opens at 2200 GMT, closes at 0700 GMT


Asian Session
opens at 2300 GMT, closes at 0800 GMT


European Session
opens at 0600 GMT, closes at 1500 GMT


London Session
opens at 0700 GMT, closes at 1600 GMT


New York Session
opens at 1200 GMT, closes at 2100 GMT

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