Sessions and timing
What time does the forex market open on Sunday?
Updated 29 October 2026 · 5 min read
If you are waiting out the weekend with a position open, or just want to know when to start watching your charts again, the short answer is: the forex market reopens on Sunday at 21:00 UTC or 22:00 UTC, depending on the time of year.
The exact time, and why it moves by an hour
The forex week has no single opening bell. Trading is handed from one financial centre to the next, starting in Sydney. By long-standing convention, the whole industry anchors the weekly open and close to 5:00 p.m. New York time, winter or summer. Converted to UTC, that gives two cases:
| Period | New York clock | UTC open |
|---|---|---|
| US daylight time (mid-March to early November) | EDT, UTC-4 | 21:00 UTC |
| US standard time (November to mid-March) | EST, UTC-5 | 22:00 UTC |
Today is 2026-10-29, and the US is still on daylight time, so this Sunday (2026-11-01) the market opens at 21:00 UTC. The US changes its clocks back on that same date, so the following Sunday (2026-11-08) the open moves to 22:00 UTC. From then it stays at 22:00 UTC until US daylight time resumes in March.
The lesson: the New York anchor, 5:00 p.m., never moves. Its UTC value does, twice a year. Check the date before you assume last month's time still applies.
Why Sydney opens first
5:00 p.m. on Sunday in New York already falls on Monday morning in Sydney. Australian and New Zealand trading desks are the first to post prices for the new week, hours before London or New York staff are even awake. That is why the Sydney session, not London or New York, marks the forex week's first candle.
Your broker's clock is a different question
The UTC time above tells you when the global market reopens. It does not tell you what your own trading platform will display. Most retail brokers run their MT4 or MT5 server clock on a fixed offset of their own choosing, and that offset does not always shift in the same week as UTC daylight-saving changes. Two traders on two different brokers can see two different "server times" stamped on the same candle.
If you need to know exactly when your own chart will show the new week's first candle, open your broker's help page or platform settings and look for its stated server time and UTC offset, rather than assuming it matches the UTC times above.
What GapEdge data shows
The Sunday open matters to traders for a specific reason: it is also the moment a weekend gap can appear. Price skips straight from Friday's close to a new level, with no trading in between, because the market was shut while the news and order flow kept moving. Since Dec 2025, GapEdge has tracked 93 gold gaps; 100.0% of them filled, with a median time to fill of 50m. EUR/USD and GBP/USD show their own patterns, which you can follow live, including the gaps that never filled, in the Gap Explorer.
Knowing the exact open time is what lets you be watching at the right minute, rather than finding out about a gap after it already moved. For the fuller picture of what a gap is and why most of them close, see What is a forex gap, and why do most gaps fill?.
How GapEdge helps
GapEdge watches Gold, EUR/USD and GBP/USD through the Sunday reopen and sends a push alert the moment a gap forms, with its zone and size, then tracks the fill live in the app so you do not have to be staring at a chart at 21:00 UTC to see it happen.
Common mistakes
- Assuming the open time is fixed all year. It shifts by an hour twice a year with US daylight saving, not with your own country's clock change.
- Reading your broker's server time as UTC. They are usually different numbers.
- Assuming the UTC open time matches your broker's order-acceptance time. Check your broker's own platform and server time instead of assuming.
This guide is for education only and is not financial advice. Trading leveraged products carries a high risk of loss.
Sources
- ActivTrades, "Forex Market Hours & Session Times Explained"
- fxopenhours.com, "Sydney Session Hours: Live Times"
- GapEdge live gap data
Questions traders ask
What time does the forex market open on Sunday in UTC?
21:00 UTC while the US runs daylight time, 22:00 UTC while the US runs standard time. The switch follows the US daylight-saving calendar (second Sunday of March to first Sunday of November), not a fixed clock time.
Why does the forex market open on Sunday evening and not Monday morning?
The open is set to 5:00 p.m. New York time, which already falls on Monday morning in Sydney. Trading desks in Australia and New Zealand are the first to open the new week, hours before London or New York wake up.
Does the forex market open at the same UTC time every week?
No. The anchor, 5:00 p.m. New York time, is fixed, but its UTC value shifts by one hour twice a year with US daylight saving. The open stays at 21:00 or 22:00 UTC, never anything in between.
What time does the forex market close on Friday?
The same anchor in reverse: 5:00 p.m. New York time on Friday, so 21:00 or 22:00 UTC depending on the same daylight-saving rule as the Sunday open.
Why does my broker's platform show a different open time than the UTC time?
Your broker's server clock (the time stamped on MT4 or MT5 charts) usually runs on its own fixed offset, chosen by the broker, and does not always shift with UTC daylight-saving changes the same week. Check your broker's own server-time page rather than assuming it matches UTC.
Is there a price gap when the forex market opens on Sunday?
Often, yes. The first price on Sunday can land away from Friday's close because news and order flow over the weekend get priced in all at once. See the worked example above and the live numbers in the Gap Explorer.
Can I place a trade right when the market opens on Sunday?
Check your own broker's platform and server time first: when exactly it starts accepting orders after the weekly close can differ from one broker to another, so do not assume it matches the UTC open time above.
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