Why it matters
- News that breaks while one region sleeps shows up first in the next market to open.
- The busiest hours for currencies and bonds come when two regions' sessions overlap.
- Holidays in one region, like China's Golden Week, can make trading thinner everywhere.
Explainer: background on how global markets work.
There is no single global stock exchange, but the world's markets work like a relay. As one region closes, the next opens and picks up where it left off.
The order of the day
Times below are in Greenwich Mean Time, the standard most global traders use, and reflect regular sessions.
| Region | Main markets | Regular hours (GMT) |
|---|---|---|
| Asia-Pacific | Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai | about 23:00–10:00 |
| Europe | London, Frankfurt, Paris | about 07:00–16:30 |
| Americas | New York, Toronto, São Paulo | about 13:30–21:00 |
Exact hours shift by an hour when countries change their clocks for daylight saving time, and they don't all change on the same dates.
Asia-Pacific opens first. Sydney and Wellington start the day, followed by Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, then Mumbai. Several Asian exchanges, including Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai, close for lunch.
Europe takes over. London opens at 8 a.m. local time, as Asia winds down. Frankfurt and Paris open at 9 a.m. local time.
The Americas close the day. New York opens at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time. For a few hours, European and U.S. markets are open at the same time. That overlap is usually the busiest period of the day for currencies and government bonds.
Some markets never close
Currencies trade around the clock from Sunday evening to Friday evening, passing from Asian to European to American banks. Bitcoin and other crypto assets trade every hour of every day. Futures on major stock indexes and on oil trade nearly 24 hours a day, which is why you can see where stocks are likely to open before the opening bell.
Why it matters
News that breaks overnight in one region shows up first in whichever market is open. That is why Hong Kong fell sharply on Oct. 2: it was closed for a holiday on Oct. 1, while bond yields jumped around the world, and it had to catch up all at once.
Holidays matter too. When a large market such as mainland China closes for a week, trading in the rest of Asia can be thinner and moves can be bigger.
The trading day bar at the top of our home page shows where the global session is right now.