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 Pakistan Standard Time (PKT, UTC+5) and suggests how to use them in a prop firm challenge.
Session times in Pakistan
- Tokyo session: about 05:00–11:00 local time.
- London open: 12:00 in the northern summer, 13:00 in winter.
- New York stock market open: 18:30 in the northern summer, 19:30 in winter.
- London–New York overlap (most liquid): about 17:00–21:00 in summer, 18:00–22:00 in winter.
Pakistan does not use daylight saving time, so the London and New York opens shift one hour later in PKT when Europe and the US move their clocks back in autumn.
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
For traders with a day job in Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad, the evening London–New York overlap (roughly 17:00–21:00 PKT in summer) is the most practical and most liquid window for gold, EURUSD and US indices.
Paying for a challenge
Many Pakistani cards block international payments; USDT bought on Binance P2P with Easypaisa, JazzCash or bank transfer is the most common way to pay for a challenge.