New york trading session
Family VII · Market & styles
Not to be confused with asian trading session, london trading session, trading session.
New York trading session refers to the hours when exchanges and trading venues in New York operate for regular business, most prominently the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. It is one of the three main regional sessions in the global foreign exchange market, alongside the Asian and London sessions. Its timing is fixed to Eastern Time, which shifts with daylight saving, so the session's UTC hours vary through the year.[1]
Timing and overlap
The New York session conventionally runs from 9:30 to 16:00 Eastern Time for equities, with pre-market and after-hours trading extending beyond those hours on some venues. In foreign exchange, the session is often treated as starting around 8:00 Eastern when US economic data is released. Because London remains open until 11:30 Eastern, the morning hours feature the largest overlap of the two sessions, which typically produces the highest liquidity and volatility of the day.
During daylight saving in the United States, 9:30 Eastern is 13:30 UTC; during standard time it is 14:30 UTC. The corresponding close is 20:00 or 21:00 UTC. Other markets, such as futures and bonds, have their own opening and closing times that may differ slightly.
Worked example: session hours in UTC
Suppose a trader in London wants to know when the New York equity session opens and closes in local time. The table converts the standard Eastern Time hours to UTC and then to London time, assuming both regions are on standard time (no daylight saving).
If either region observes daylight saving, the offset changes and the local times shift accordingly. For instance, when New York is on daylight saving but London is not, the open is 13:30 UTC, which is 13:30 London time.
Instruments and activity
The New York session is the primary period for US equities, exchange-traded funds, and listed options. It also sees heavy activity in US Treasury securities, corporate bonds, and futures on US indices. In foreign exchange, the US dollar is most actively traded during this session, especially against the euro and other European currencies during the overlap with London. Economic data releases from the United States, such as employment figures and inflation reports, are typically published at 8:30 Eastern, before the equity open, and can set the tone for the session.
Often confused with
- asian trading session
- The Asian trading session covers the hours when markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney are open, typically starting around 23:00 UTC and ending around 08:00 UTC, whereas the New York session runs from roughly 13:30 to 21:00 UTC; the visible sign is that the Asian session ends before the New York session begins.
- london trading session
- The London trading session spans the hours when London markets are open, generally from 08:00 to 16:30 UTC, while the New York session starts later and overlaps with the London afternoon; the visible sign is that the London session opens before the New York session and closes as New York is still trading.
- trading session
- A trading session is any period during which a market or exchange is open for trading, which can be a regional session like New York or a specific venue's hours, whereas the New York trading session is one particular regional session; the visible sign is that the term 'trading session' requires a qualifier such as 'New York' or 'Asian' to specify which hours are meant.
See also
References
- ↑ Trading hours published by the exchanges and venues concerned. Session boundaries shift with daylight saving in each region and are not the same all year.