Forex, gold and index markets trade almost 24 hours from Monday to Friday, but volume is concentrated in three sessions: Tokyo, London and New York. This guide converts them to East Africa Time (EAT, UTC+3) and suggests how to use them in a prop firm challenge.
Session times in Kenya
- Tokyo session: about 03:00–09:00 local time.
- London open: 10:00 in the northern summer, 11:00 in winter.
- New York stock market open: 16:30 in the northern summer, 17:30 in winter.
- London–New York overlap (most liquid): about 15:00–19:00 in summer, 16:00–20:00 in winter.
Kenya does not change its clocks, so the European and US opens move one hour later in EAT during the northern winter.
Which markets move when
- EURUSD and GBPUSD: from the London open through the overlap.
- Gold (XAUUSD): London open and especially the New York session, when US data is released.
- Nasdaq, S&P 500 and US30: the first 90 minutes after the New York open.
- USDJPY: the Tokyo morning and the New York session.
- Crypto: 24/7, with more volume during London and New York hours.
A realistic schedule
From Nairobi, the London open arrives mid-morning and the London–New York overlap runs through the late afternoon and early evening, which suits traders who finish work around 17:00.
Paying for a challenge
M-Pesa is the usual way to buy USDT on Binance P2P in Kenya; from there you pay the challenge on TRC20 or BEP20 in a few minutes.