The New York session is the American trading day — roughly 13:00 to 22:00 London time, or 08:00 to 17:00 in New York. It's the second-largest FX centre after London, and for its first three hours it runs alongside London. That shared window is where a large share of the day's volume and range shows up.
When it runs
The session runs 08:00–17:00 New York time, which is 13:00–22:00 London time for most of the year, since both cities keep clocks about five hours apart. US data lands early: the big releases — non-farm payrolls, CPI, retail sales — hit at 08:30 New York (13:30 London), and the Federal Reserve rate decision at 14:00 New York (19:00 London). Those timestamps matter more than the session boundaries, because they're where the sharp moves cluster.
The overlap with London
From 13:00 to 16:00 London time (08:00–11:00 New York) both centres are fully open. This is the London–New York overlap: liquidity is deepest, spreads are tight and the largest moves of the day tend to happen. It's covered in full in its own guide, but the short version is that if you only traded three hours a day, these would be the three.
After London closes near 16:00–17:00 London time, the New York afternoon thins out. Liquidity drops, ranges narrow and spreads can widen — an EA that did well in the overlap may find far less to work with by 20:00 London.
USD news drives it
Because the session is dollar-centric, USD pairs move most here. A single data surprise at 13:30 London can shift EUR/USD 50 to 80 pips in minutes, and the spread and slippage that come with it are the real cost of trading the news rather than around it. The New York stock market opens at 09:30 New York (14:30 London), and that adds a second burst of flow into currencies right in the middle of the overlap.
A worked example
Say you hold one standard lot of EUR/USD, where each pip is worth about £8, with a 30-pip stop. A CPI print at 13:30 London moves the pair 60 pips against you in two minutes, and your stop fills 5 pips late because liquidity vanished. Instead of the £240 loss you planned for, you take £280. The session didn't change your strategy; it changed the conditions your stop had to survive.
Why it matters for EA traders
EAs that avoid news often blacklist the 13:30 and 19:00 London windows outright. The overlap is prime trading time and the late New York afternoon is thin, so the same EA can behave like two different systems within one session. And if your broker's server clock is set to GMT+2 or GMT+3, "17:00 New York" is midnight on your charts — worth knowing before you read any session time, and the reason the daily rollover has its own guide.
The Karnek note
Karnek stamps every trade in your own time zone, so you can line up an EA's entries and exits against the New York session and its news windows. It only reads the terminal — it cannot open, adjust or close anything.
More in Market Sessions & Timing →
Written and reviewed by the Karnek Research team. Last updated August 2026.
Educational content only - not financial advice. Past performance does not predict future results. Trading carries significant risk.