India Standard Time is UTC+5:30 and does not change for daylight saving, but London and New York do. That means the session times below shift by one hour twice a year. Here are the windows that matter for forex, gold (XAUUSD) and US indices if you trade from India.
Session times in IST
- Tokyo session: about 05:30–14:30 IST. Quieter, good for JPY pairs and AUD.
- London open: 12:30 IST (northern summer) or 13:30 IST (winter). Volume and volatility jump.
- New York open: 17:30 IST (summer) or 18:30 IST (winter).
- London–New York overlap: about 17:30–21:30 IST in summer. The most liquid hours of the day.
- US stock market open (Nasdaq, US30): 19:00 IST in summer, 20:00 IST in winter.
Best hours for each market
- EURUSD, GBPUSD: London open and the overlap (afternoon to evening IST).
- Gold (XAUUSD): London open and especially the New York session, when US data is released.
- Nasdaq and US30: the first 90 minutes after the US cash open (evening IST).
- Crypto: 24/7, but volume still rises during the London and New York hours.
A realistic schedule if you have a day job
Many traders in India work during the day and trade in the evening. That is good news: the London–New York overlap falls in the evening IST. A focused session from about 18:00 to 21:30 IST covers the most active part of the day for forex, gold and US indices.
Weekends
Forex, gold and indices close on Saturday early morning IST and reopen on Monday early morning IST. On the 2-Step, positions are closed before the weekend (Friday 20:45 UTC is Saturday 02:15 IST).