Hey all. I’m hoping you guys can clear this up for me once and for all. I’ve searched far and beyond for the answer and I get different answers from everyone. And also multiple different websites tell me conflicting answers.
So this is to do with London and New York open times, or ‘killzones’. According to the allmighty ICT he sais London killzone is 2-5am NY time, BUT that is 1 hour BEFORE London opens. Same with NY killzone, it is 7-9am NY time, again, 1 hour BEFORE NY open. Even if it’s daylight savings time or vise versa, NY will always still open at 8am regardless right?
Yes but what does he say happens if you do not avoid them? What is his concern?
Usually around the major market opens/closes its possible to see spreads have widened enormously. Is that what he is flagging up? Its not possible to see it on all charts without watching live and making your own notes of quotes, but some charts allow the user to set to display both ask and bid prices - charts are usually drawn from bid only.
Thanks mate. I’m in the process of learning so not 100% sure to be honest. But it has to do with finding high probability trade setups in those areas.
I was wondering if anyone who knows about these killzones can confirm that these are the correct hours, or they are actual London and NY open times (not an hour before).
Just Google your country times versus London and NY.
If you’re trading indices, e.g. DAX & FTSE, when Frankfurt is open, London opening time spreads are materially tightened. As I don’t trade NY, cannot help that one.
Yes, London session starts at 3am New York time, so the “kill zone” being 2-5am fits, as it’s about anticipation of the session. The same logic applies for the New York session. So, the killzones start 1 hour before the actual session opens.
Always good to double-check though, daylight saving can throw things off a bit.
Thanks for all the answers. Yep I think you’re right @Emi.s, after more searching, the killzones start 1 hour before session in anticipation of the session. @ArnavDeshmukh I tried Google, but believe me, NOBODY sais it’s meant to actually start an hour before session, they just call it the London or NY session killzone… Everyone has their own answers which contradict each other. Anyway, I know now. Thanks again
Years ago, when Michael Huddleston (ICT) was an active participant on this forum, he taught his own, unique (some whould say, quirky) approach to markets. In his teaching, he defined and used many terms and abbreviations which he invented (or borrowed from other teachers), most of which were new and previously unknown to the Babypips community. “Kill Zones” was one of those new terms.
Back then, when I was following Michael’s postings here, I attempted to catalog his terminology. The result was a lengthy Glossary of ICT Terms and Abbreviations, which you can access HERE.
Regarding “kill zones,” here are some excerpts from that Glossary, which should answer the questions raised in this thread:
kill zone — one of 4 high-probability time periods (typically 2 hours each) in which to find trade set-ups using ICT tools; see A-KZ, LO-KZ, NYO-KZ, and LC-KZ
Asian session — 9am-7pm Tokyo time (a low-volume trading session, typically characterized by price consolidation within a restricted range)
Asian range — this term may refer to (1) the 9am-2pm Tokyo time period, (2) the H-L price range within that period, or (3) price action within that H-L range
Asian Kill Zone — nominally 8am-12pm Tokyo time (this time period may be expanded at the discretion of the trader); this is one of 4 kill zones
London session — 8am-5pm London time; the final 4 hours of this session (the L/NY overlap) typically constitute the highest-volume period of the trading day
London Open — 8am London time, the beginning of the normal business day in London
London Open Kill Zone — nominally 7am-9am London time (this time period may be expanded at the discretion of the trader); this is one of 4 kill zones
London Close — 5pm London time, the end of the normal business day in London
London Close Kill Zone — nominally 4pm-6pm London time (this time period may be expanded at the discretion of the trader); this is one of 4 kill zones
New York session — 8am-5pm New York time; the first 4 hours of this session (the L/NY overlap) typically constitute the highest-volume period of the trading day
New York Open — 8am New York time, the beginning of the normal business day in New York
New York Open Kill Zone — nominally 7am-9am New York time (this time period may be expanded at the discretion of the trader); this is one of 4 kill zones
Notes:
Forex markets don’t actually open or close – they operate 24/7/365. What we call the “open” or the “close” of any market (Singapore, Toyko, London, etc.) is simply the time of day when business of all sorts intensifies, and forex trading ramps up dramatically. As a rule of thumb, we typically say that forex markets (with some exceptions) open at 8 am (local time) and close at 5 pm (local time). These are nominal opening and closing times, which bracket the high-volume period within the 24-hour trading day.
Some traders who consider the three major trading sessions to be Tokyo, London, and New York, wonder why Michael refers to the trading session in Tokyo as the Asian Session. It’s because Tokyo is not the only major trading hub in east Asia. In fact, Tokyo is no longer the largest forex trading hub in Asia – Singapore is the largest (by forex trading volume), followed by Hong Kong. Tokyo is third-largest. To keep things manageable, Michael keyed his analysis of the Asian Session and the Asian Kill Zone to Tokyo time, rather than toggling back and forth between time in Tokyo (UTC+9) and time in Singapore or Hong Kong (UTC+8).
You will note that Michael defined two kill-zones (around the open and close) for the London Session, but only one kil zone (around the open) for the Asian Session and the New York Session. This is because the overlap of the London Session and the New York Session intensifies late-day trading in London – whereas, by contrast, trading tapers off significantly toward the close in both Asia and New York.
For additional commentary on Kill Zones, go to page 5 of the Glossary and scroll down to the section titled • ICT Session Times and Kill Zones — expanded descriptions of the session times and kill zones defined in the alphabetical listing (pages 1-4)
Michael left the Babypips community in 2013, taking all of his teaching resources with him. He picked up his toys and went home, so to speak. I stopped following him at that point. Everything in the Glossary refers to his teaching years ago, and may be out-of-date or irrelevant at this point. Take it with a grain of salt, and use it with discretion.
Is a kill zone something you’re supposed to avoid or trade? I don’t follow this trading, but 7am London is when markets move faster, 8am faster still and then 9am seems to reverse the 8am candle more often than not. Then at 1pm the daily direction seems to reverse more often than not
This kill zone theory seems interesting yet at the heart of it completely unprovable. And if you can’t prove something you can’t define its limits.
Reminds me of the time when I was going to go camping in Scotland. I asked my Scottish boss of that time where we should camp in order to avoid being bitten by midges. He said not near trees and not near water. Which basically means not in Scotland…
New York (Eastern Time zone) is normally 5 hours behind UK time.
When the UK’s clocks change from GMT to BST for 6 months, the US does the same, but usually not on exactly the same dates. This year (a few weeks ago) when the UK clocks went forward an hour to British Summer Time, in America the changeover happened 3 weeks later (the longest-ever discrepancy from this cause) and there was, therefore, a 3-week period when the difference was only 4 hours rather than the normal 5, but that’s the exception, rather than the rule.
This is exactly so: it’s one of those “belief” things you can never prove or disprove, you just have to decide for yourself whether or not you “believe in it”.
