Over the next 5 weeks, various countries will begin or end Daylight Saving Time (DST), turning their clocks forward or back, as the case may be, and in the process, shifting their trading session times (forward or back) by one hour. This drawn-out process begins each year shortly after the Fall Equinox in late September.
Then, in the Spring of 2019, all these time changes will be reversed on various dates, beginning roughly around the time of the Spring Equinox (in late March).
If the countries of the world had the good sense to coordinate with one another, and make all these changes on the same date, it would certainly be helpful to forex traders around the world, and to anyone else trading world markets.
But unfortunately, that good sense eludes the Masters of the Universe who run our countries.
As a result, we have to contend with time changes on 3 different dates (instead of just one) in the Spring, and on 4 different dates (instead of just one) in the Fall.
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.
Here’s the schedule:
Daylight Saving Time Changes for September-November 2018 in the major forex markets
September 30 — New Zealand will begin Daylight Saving Time (DST)
October 7 — southeastern Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart, etc.) will begin DST
October 28 — the U.K. and eastern, central and western Europe will return to Standard Time
November 4 — the U.S. and Canada will return to Standard Time
Daylight Saving Time Changes in other markets
October 28 — Ireland, and most of Mexico will return to Standard Time
November 4 — portions of Brazil will begin DST
Significant markets which do not observe Daylight Saving Time
Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia,
India, Russia, and South Africa
See post #2 for details of the time changes which will occur in New Zealand this weekend.
On Sunday, September 30, New Zealand will begin southern hemisphere Daylight Saving Time.
In New Zealand, the time zone will change from GMT+12 to GMT+13.
Clocks in New Zealand will be turned forward by one hour, prior to the opening of the forex market on Monday morning, October 1.
For traders in New Zealand: The forex trading session in New Zealand will not change, but the forex trading session in every other market will begin and end one hour later than previously.
For traders in all other locations: The only change will be that the forex trading session in New Zealand will begin and end one hour earlier than previously.
The next Daylight Saving Time change will occur in one week, when s.e. Australia will begin DST.
On Sunday, October 7, southeastern Australia will begin Daylight Saving Time.
The region referred to here as southeastern Australia comprises the states of New South Wales (Sydney, etc.), Victoria (Melbourne, etc.), Australian Capital Territory - ACT (Canberra, etc.), South Australia (Adelaide, etc.), and the island of Tasmania (Hobart, etc.). Geographically, southeastern Australia comprises a little less than a third of the Australian continent.
In New South Wales, Victoria, ACT, and Tasmania the time-zone will change this weekend
from GMT+10 to GMT+11.
In South Australia, the time-zone will change from GMT+9½ to GMT+10½.
Clocks in these states will be turned forward by one hour, prior to the opening of the forex market on
Monday morning, October 8.
For traders in southeastern Australia, the forex trading session in Sydney will not change, but the trading session in every other market will begin and end one hour later 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 session in Sydney will begin and end one hour earlier than previously, starting on Monday morning.
The states of Queensland (Brisbane, etc.), Northern Territory (Darwin, etc.), and Western Australia (Perth, etc.) do not observe Daylight Saving Time.
The next Daylight Saving Time change will occur in 3 weeks, at which time the U.K. and Europe
will end Summer Time (DST) and will return to Standard Time.
On Sunday, October 28, the U.K., and all of eastern, central and western Europe will end Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time) and return to Standard Time. 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+3 to GMT+2.
In central Europe (28 countries from Serbia west to Spain, and from Sweden south to Malta),
the time zone will change from GMT+2 to GMT+1.
In western Europe (Ireland and Portugal), and in the U.K. (including the Channel Islands),
the time zone will change from GMT+1 to GMT.
Clocks in all of these countries will be turned back one hour, prior to the opening of the forex market on Monday morning, October 29.
For traders in all of these countries, opening and closing times in the London Session, and in the European Session, will not change. But, the trading sessions in Tokyo and New York will begin and end one hour earlier 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 later than previously, starting Monday morning.
Traders in the U.S. and Canada who trade the European or London Sessions, and traders in the U.K. and Europe who trade the New York Session, should be aware that the usual 5-hour time difference between London and New York will be reduced to 4 hours, for one week, starting on Sunday.
Also, beginning on Monday morning, and continuing for one week, the heavily-traded London/New York Overlap Session (normally 4 hours in duration) will extend to 5 hours, as follows: 12 pm - 5 pm London time, and 8 am - 1 pm New York time.
The last Daylight Saving Time change for this season will occur on November 4, at which time the U.S. and Canada will end DST and will return to Standard Time.
Copied-and-pasted from timeanddate.com – the most authoritative site (in my opinion) for information on times, time zones, and time changes –
EU Might End DST Permanently
Next year may be the last time Europeans set their clocks forward 1 hour, as the EU considers scrapping DST permanently in 2019. The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union (EU), has recently pushed to end the yearly clock changes in Europe.
If the initiative is successful, the last EU-wide DST period will start on Sunday, March 31, 2019. Each member state would then have the chance to decide if they stay on “summer time” (DST) year-round or change their clocks once more on Sunday, October 27, 2019 to observe permanent standard time in subsequent years. In that case, the upcoming time change would be the last joint switch from DST to standard time in Europe.
For this reason, all subsequent clock changes in European countries are now marked as preliminary on timeanddate.com.
On Sunday, November 4, the U.S. and Canada will end Daylight Saving Time (DST) and will return to Standard Time.
Five time zones in the U.S. (including Alaska), and seven time zones in Canada (including the maritime provinces of 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 GMT-4 to GMT-5.
Clocks in the U.S. and Canada will be turned back one hour prior to the opening of the forex market on Monday morning, November 5. [This statement does not apply to Arizona and Hawaii in the U.S., or to most of Saskatchewan, various portions of British Columbia, and small portions of Quebec and Ontario in Canada. Those places do not observe DST.]
For traders in the U.S. and Canada, opening and closing times in the New York Session will not change. But, the trading sessions in Tokyo, Europe, and London will begin and end one hour earlier than previously, starting Monday morning.
For traders in other countries, the only change will be that the New York Session will begin and end one hour later than previously, starting Monday morning.
The change occurring on November 4 will restore the time difference between London and New York to 5 hours (which is the normal time difference for most of the year).
Also, beginning on Monday morning, and continuing until next March, the heavily-traded London/New York Overlap Session will return to its normal 4-hour duration, as follows: 1 pm - 5 pm London time, and 8 am - 12 pm New York time.
This is the last Daylight Saving Time change for this season.
In 2019, the first Daylight Saving Time change (in a major market) will occur on Sunday, March 10, 2019.