Time change reminder --- September / October / November 2019

Trading Discussion
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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 procedure begins each year shortly after the Fall Equinox in late September.

Then, in the Spring of 2020, 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 coordinated with one another — and made 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’s not the case. Instead, 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 2019 in the major forex markets

  • September 29 — New Zealand will begin Daylight Saving Time (DST)

  • October 6 — southeastern Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart, etc.) will begin DST

  • October 27 — the U.K. and all of eastern and western Europe will return to Standard Time

  • November 3 — the U.S. and Canada will return to Standard Time

Daylight Saving Time Changes in other markets

  • October 27 — Ireland, and most of Mexico will return to Standard Time

Significant markets which do not observe Daylight Saving Time — listed by forex market size
(figures in parentheses are daily forex trading volumes, in billions of USD — source: BIS 2019)

  • Singapore (633), Hong Kong (632), Japan (376), and China (136)

Other markets which do not observe Daylight Saving Time

  • Korea (55), Russia (47), United Arab Emirates (46), India (40), Taiwan (30), South Africa (20),
    Turkey (19), Brazil (19), Thailand (14), and Malaysia (10)

See post #2 for details of the time changes which will occur in New Zealand this weekend.

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On Sunday, September 29, New Zealand will begin southern hemisphere Daylight Saving Time.

  • In New Zealand, the NZST time zone (GMT+12) will change to NZDT (GMT+13)

Clocks in New Zealand will be turned forward by one hour, prior to the opening of the forex market on Monday morning, September 30.

  • For traders in New Zealand: The forex trading session in New Zealand will not change. But, starting September 30, 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, starting September 30, 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.

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On Sunday, October 6, 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 7.

  • 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.

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Excellent reminder, @Clint.

Perhaps the mods can stick this to the top somewhere.

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Great post!
I would probably miss something on all the changes

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Very useful thanks

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On Sunday, October 27, the U.K. and all of Europe will return to Standard Time.

This time change will involve all of the 43 countries (and principalities) situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Russian border, except Belarus.

Listed geographically, from west to east:

  • In the U.K. (including the Channel Islands), the BST (GMT+1) time zone will change to GMT.

  • In the western European time zone — in Ireland, the IST (GMT+1) time zone will change to GMT, and in Portugal, the WEST (GMT+1) time zone will change to GMT.

  • In the central European time zone (comprising 30 countries and principalities from Spain east to Serbia, and from Sweden south to Malta), the CEST (GMT+2) time zone will change to CET (GMT+1). — See the box, below.

  • In the 10 countries within the eastern European time zone (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Cyprus), the EEST (GMT+3) time zone will change to EET (GMT+2).

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

  • 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 3, at which time the U.S. and Canada will end DST and will return to Standard Time.

A year ago, it was REPORTED that a plan was under consideration in the European Union to eliminate annual time changes in 2019. The action-dates in that plan were then postponed to 2020.

The current plan is for all of the European Union to return to Standard Time this weekend, and then go onto European Summer Time (daylight saving time) in the Spring of 2020. Then, each E.U. country will decide whether to (1) stay on Summer Time permanently, or (2) return permanently to Standard Time in the Fall of 2020.

Best scenario — all of the E.U. countries decide to do the same thing. Worst scenario — a patchwork emerges of European countries in two time zones, one hour out-of-sych with each other.

It isn’t clear what the non-E.U. countries in Europe will do, after the E.U. countries have made their decisions. In the CET and EET time zones in Europe, there are 16 countries and principalities which are not E.U. members – Switzerland and Norway being notable examples. Previously, those non-E.U. countries have changed back and forth between Standard Time and Summer Time, along with the E.U. countries.

Will they follow suit with the E.U., if and when the E.U. countries settle permanently on either Standard Time or Summer Time?

Stay tuned.

CET time zone countries
CET time zone countries737×145 13.3 KB

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Thank you for your updates. Did you know that Russia already stopped changing time, while similar regulation is adopted also in the EU last year. I have never understood this concept of time change within a year. I am happy that it will stop soon

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It’s been proposed in the US to Congress to stay on Daylight Savings Time, here.
Like everything else in Congress, no action.

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Thanks for the information you just gave to us.

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I don’t imagine bordering countries would chose differently, but imagine if they did! That would be some interesting travel between countries.

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Cue all the social media complaints about getting less sleep this Monday. :persevere:

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It’s the other way around.

If you’re in the U.S. or Canada, you’ll get an extra hour of sleep Saturday night.

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On Sunday, November 3, 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 4. [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 Sydney, Tokyo, Paris, 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 3 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 2020, the first Daylight Saving Time change (in a major market) will occur on Sunday, March 8, 2020.

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Thank you for the reminder, Clint!

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Someone forgot to tell my kids…….

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Ah yes you are correct! I will save this for when DST changes again :))