Over the next six weeks, beginning this weekend, Daylight Saving Time Changes will affect forex markets around the world, as various countries on various dates, switch from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time, or vice versa.
During this period, you might see the opening and closing times of the foreign markets you trade change by one or two hours, depending on where you are located and which foreign markets you are following.
This may, or may not, have a significant impact on your trading, depending on the time-frame you are trading. Generally, the shorter your time-frame (scalping or intraday trading, for example) the more important it will be for you to stay in sync with the trading hours in your chosen markets.
Here is the schedule of changes that will occur over the next 6 weeks:
Daylight Saving Time Changes in the major forex markets
September 24 — New Zealand will begin southern hemisphere Daylight Saving Time (DST)
October 1 — southeastern Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart, etc.) will begin DST
October 29 — the U.K., Ireland, and all of eastern and western Europe will return to Standard Time
November 5 — the U.S., Canada, and northern Mexico will return to Standard Time
Significant markets which do not observe Daylight Saving Time — listed in order according to forex market size (figures in parentheses indicate daily turnover (trading volume) in billions of USD — source BIS 2022 Triennial Survey)
Singapore (929), Hong Kong (694), Japan (433) , and China (153)
Other markets which do not observe Daylight Saving Time — listed according to size
Korea (68), Russia (NA), United Arab Emirates (66), India (53), Taiwan (33),
Brazil (21), Turkey (18), South Africa (16), Malaysia (16) and Thailand (15)
See post #2 for Notes on DST, and on time zones.
See post #3 for details of the time changes which will occur in New Zealand this weekend.
A couple of years ago, proposals to abolish Daylight Saving Time were being actively put forward in both the US and the EU. But lately, interest in that issue has faded. So, unless and until governments resume active discussions once again, there is nothing new to report or talk about here.
Selected TIME ZONES with abbreviations and UTC equivalents
In the eastern US and Canada –
EST – Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5)
EDT – Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
In the UK –
GMT – Greenwich Mean Time (standard time in the UK) (UTC+0)
BST – British Summer Time (UTC+1)
In western Europe –
IST – Irish Standard Time (in EU-member Ireland) (UTC+0)
BST – British Summer Time (in Ireland) (UTC+1)
WET – Western European Time (standard time in Portugal) (UTC+0)
WEST – Western European Summer Time (in Portugal) (UTC+1)
In central Europe –
CET – Central European Time (standard time) (UTC+1)
CEST – Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
In eastern Europe –
EET – Eastern European Time (standard time) (UTC+2)
EEST – Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)
In Asia (these countries do not observe daylight saving time) –
MSK – Moscow Standard Time (in western Russia) (UTC+3)
IST – India Standard Time (UTC+5½)
SGT – Singapore Time (UTC+8)
HKT – Hong Kong Time (UTC+8)
CST – China Standard Time (UTC+8)
PHST - Philippine Standard Time (UTC+8)
KST - Korea Standard Time (UTC+9)
JST – Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
In southeastern Australia –
AEST – Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)
AEDT – Australian Eastern Daylight Time (UTC+11)
In New Zealand –
NZST – New Zealand Standard Time (UTC+12)
NZDT – New Zealand Daylight Time (UTC+13)
Worldwide –
UTC – Coordinated Universal Time (not actually a time zone, it is the international baseline against which all time zones are defined)
Note that Irish Standard Time and India Standard Time use the same abbreviation – IST. However, their UTC equivalents are different.
On Sunday, September 24, New Zealand will begin southern hemisphere Daylight Saving Time.
In New Zealand, the NZST time zone (UTC+12) will change to NZDT (UTC+13)
Clocks in New Zealand will be turned forward by one hour, prior to the opening of the forex market on Monday morning, September 25.
For traders in New Zealand: The forex trading session in New Zealand will not change. But, starting September 25, 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 25, 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 1, 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 AEST time zone (UTC+10) will change to AEDT (UTC+11).
In South Australia, the ACST time-zone (UTC+9½) will change to ACDT (UTC+10½).
Clocks in these states will be turned forward by one hour, prior to the opening of the forex market on Monday morning, October 2.
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 4 weeks, at which time the U.K. and Europe will end Summer Time (DST) and will return to Standard Time.
On Sunday, October 29, the U.K. and all of Europe will end Summer Time (daylight saving time), and 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 (UTC+1) time zone will change to GMT (UTC+0).
In the western European time zone — in Ireland, the IST (UTC+1) time zone will change to GMT. Likewise, in Portugal, the WEST (UTC+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 (UTC+2) time zone will change to CET (UTC+1).
In the 10 countries within the eastern European time zone (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Cyprus), the EEST (UTC+3) time zone will change to EET (UTC+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 30.
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 (which is 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 5, at which time the U.S., Canada and northern Mexico will end DST and will return to Standard Time.
On Sunday, November 5, 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. Also affected will be small portions of northern Mexico directly bordering the U.S.
In the eastern U.S. and Canada, which includes the key New York market, the EDT (UTC-4) time zone will change to EST (UTC-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 6. — [Note: This statement does not apply to Arizona or Hawaii in the U.S.; or to most of Saskatchewan, various portions of British Columbia, or small portions of Quebec and Ontario in Canada, as those places do not observe DST.]
For traders in the U.S., Canada and portions of northern Mexico, opening and closing times in the New York Session will not change. But, the trading sessions in Asia, Europe, and the UK 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 5 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 2024, the first Daylight Saving Time change (in a major market) will occur on Sunday, March 10.
"Frequent and uncoordinated time changes cause confusion, undermining economic efficiency,” wrote economist Allison Schrager in The Atlantic a decade ago.
“There’s evidence that regularly changing sleep cycles, associated with daylight saving, lowers productivity and increases heart attacks."
As part of a maddening twice-yearly ritual… most of us will change our clocks this weekend, returning to standard time from daylight saving time.
Cato Institute senior fellow Scott Lincicome highlighted a few of them in 2021, denouncing DST as “an onerous state time mandate detrimental to public health and safety, manipulated by corporatists, supported by a handful of childless insomniac socialites and based on so-called ‘science’ debunked decades ago.”
To begin with, any claims of energy conservation are fanciful.
“The policy also imperils Americans’ health and safety,” Lincicome continued.
Alas, we’re at the mercy of special interests — and have been ever since DST was adopted outside of wartime with passage of the Uniform Time Act of 1966.
Contrary to myth, that wasn’t done for the benefit of farmers. Indeed farmers “now had an hour less of morning light to milk their cows and get goods ready for market,” wrote Michael Downing in his 2005 book Spring Forward: The Madness of Daylight Saving Time.
Rather, the mid-1960s change was the doing of Big Oil — which benefited from higher gasoline consumption during the longer evenings.
Most years, there’s legislation in Congress that would do away with time change, but it never seems to go anywhere. That’s just as well because the legislation would put the nation on year-round DST.
*Maybe you don’t remember, but the country already tried this in the ’70s — and everyone hated it because kids were going to school in the dark.
As noted above, the sleep researchers say year-round standard time is the way to maximize the available daylight in winter without the jarring effect of time change. But that would make too much sense, right? — [emphasis (bold type) added]
On November 5th 2023, the MT4 will adjust its time zone from GMT+3 to GMT+2.
From 07:59am GMT+3 on Sunday November 5th 2023, the markets will pause for 2 hours total, reopening at 10am GMT+2 time. As this change falls on the weekend, the only market that will be affected is cryptocurrencies.
