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Forex trades around the clock from Monday to Friday, with a short pause at the daily rollover. Trading activity is divided into four major sessions based on the world's financial centres.
Sydney
Sydney, Australia
Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
London
London, UK
New York
New York, USA
Each session is its city's business day (08:00 to 17:00 local time, Tokyo 09:00 to 18:00), shown in server time (New York + 7 hours) and already adjusted for daylight saving in each city.
Every instrument has its own weekly schedule on our MetaTrader 5 trading server. Search for one here, or open a market and choose Hours on any row: the week is drawn day by day, with breaks, today’s status and the times in server time, GMT or your own time.
These are the regular weekly hours. Holiday hours differ: see the holiday schedule
Unlike stock markets, the forex market has no central exchange and no single opening or closing bell. On GCC Brokers MetaTrader 5, forex opens on Monday at 00:05 and closes on Friday at 23:58 server time. Server time is New York time plus seven hours: GMT+3 for most of the year and GMT+2 in winter. Each day, trading pauses briefly at the 00:00 server-time rollover.
The most active periods occur when sessions overlap. The London–New York overlap, 08:00 to 12:00 New York time (15:00–19:00 server time for most of the year), is usually the busiest part of the day, with the highest volume and typically the tightest spreads. The Tokyo–London overlap is shorter, from about 10:00 server time for one to two hours depending on the season, and often sees more activity in EUR/JPY and GBP/JPY.
Liquidity matters. During active sessions, spreads are usually tighter and execution is faster. During quiet periods (late New York to early Sydney, and around the daily rollover), spreads widen, volume drops, and prices can make erratic moves. Many traders plan their activity around the major session overlaps.
Metals, indices, commodities and crypto have their own trading hours: search for any instrument above, or open its market page and choose Hours. Gold and silver follow a schedule close to forex, with a short daily break around the rollover. Most index CFDs follow their futures markets and trade for most of the day; some European indices trade shorter hours. Cryptocurrency CFDs trade seven days a week, with a weekly break on Saturday and lower weekend liquidity.
Read the explainerGold (XAU/USD) Trading Hours in Dubai and Riyadh Time
On GCC Brokers MetaTrader 5, forex opens on Monday at 00:05 and closes on Friday at 23:58 server time. Server time is GMT+3 in summer and GMT+2 in winter. Trading pauses briefly at the 00:00 server-time rollover each day, and liquidity varies by session.
The London–New York overlap, 08:00 to 12:00 New York time (15:00–19:00 server time for most of the year), usually has the highest volume and the tightest spreads. For Asian pairs (JPY, AUD, NZD), the Tokyo session (09:00–18:00 Tokyo time) is also active.
GCC Brokers MetaTrader 5 server time is GMT+3 in summer and GMT+2 in winter, following US daylight saving time (GMT+3 from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November). All chart timestamps, daily candle opens/closes, and swap rollover times are based on this server time.
Forex, metals, indices, commodities and futures are closed at weekends. Cryptocurrency CFDs and the gold and Bitcoin perpetuals trade seven days a week, including weekends, with a weekly break on Saturday; search for an instrument on this page, or choose Hours on its market page, for its exact times. Weekend liquidity is lower.
Spreads widen when liquidity decreases — typically late in the New York session, around the daily rollover at 00:00 server time, in the early Sydney session, and around major economic releases. Lower liquidity means fewer market participants, which leads to wider bid-ask spreads.
The GCC Brokers server clock follows the US switch: GMT+3 from the second Sunday of March and GMT+2 from the first Sunday of November. Instruments tied to European or Australian markets can therefore move by an hour in server time when those countries change their clocks on a different date, for example between 25 October and 1 November 2026. Each instrument’s hours on our market and instrument pages are read live from the trading server, and holiday hours are listed on our Holiday schedule page.
