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 Central European Time (CET/CEST) and suggests how to use them in a prop firm challenge.
Session times in Spain
- Tokyo session: about 01:00–08:00 local time.
- London open: 09:00 in the northern summer, 09:00 in winter.
- New York stock market open: 15:30 in the northern summer, 15:30 in winter.
- London–New York overlap (most liquid): about 14:00–18:00 in summer, 14:00–18:00 in winter.
Spain, the UK and the US all change their clocks, so local session times stay almost constant. The exception is two or three weeks in March and late October/early November, when the US changes on a different date and the US open moves to 14:30.
In the Canary Islands, subtract one hour from every time in this guide.
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
Many traders in Spain trade one of two windows: 09:00–11:00 for the London open, or 15:30–17:30 for the US open on indices and gold. Both fit around a typical working day if you can take a break.
Paying for a challenge
Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay work normally from Spain; you can also pay with USDT or USDC, and payouts are in crypto.