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 West Africa Time (WAT, UTC+1) and suggests how to use them in a prop firm challenge.
Session times in Nigeria
- Tokyo session: about 01:00–07:00 local time.
- London open: 08:00 in the northern summer, 09:00 in winter.
- New York stock market open: 14:30 in the northern summer, 15:30 in winter.
- London–New York overlap (most liquid): about 13:00–17:00 in summer, 14:00–18:00 in winter.
Nigeria stays on WAT all year. In the northern summer, London time and Lagos time are the same; in winter, Lagos is one hour ahead of London.
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
Traders in Lagos and Abuja are well placed: the London open falls in the morning and the US open in the early afternoon, so both main sessions fit into a normal day.
Paying for a challenge
International card payments from Nigeria are often declined or limited. Buying USDT on Binance P2P with a naira bank transfer or Opay and paying on TRC20 or BEP20 is usually the smoothest route.