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Breakouts & sessions

Session overlap

Also called London–New York overlap, Forex session overlap, Overlapping market hours, Trading session overlap

A session overlap is the window when two major forex trading sessions are open at once, for example London and New York, roughly the New York morning. More banks and traders are active then, so volume and price movement usually rise.

An overlap changes the size of a normal move. Keep the same stop and lot from a quiet hour, and an ordinary overlap swing can stop you out.

On a clock you know, the London–New York overlap runs from the New York open until the London close, roughly from 8:00 to 12:00 New York time, which is 13:00 to 17:00 London time (13:00 to 17:00 UTC in winter, 12:00 to 16:00 UTC in British summer time).

Which forex sessions overlap during the day

Traders usually split the 24-hour forex day into four main sessions: Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York. Three overlaps come out of that: Sydney with Tokyo, a short Tokyo–London handover, and London with New York. When traders say "the overlap", they nearly always mean London–New York. Those are the two largest centres, and their hours meet in the middle of the European afternoon.

Your trading platform shows the broker's server time. That is the clock the broker's charts run on, and it is often different from your local time. The timeline below shows the server-time blocks the IndicatorFree Lab used to group its data. It groups Sydney and Tokyo together as Asian hours. The 15:00-18:59 overlap window is the Lab broker's clock; your broker's server clock may be different. In real trading, the sessions blur into each other at the edges rather than switching off on the hour.

Asian, London and New York hours with the London–New York overlap, in broker server time
London–New York overlap04812162024server timeAsian hoursLondonNew York

Finding overlap hours on your trading platform

The time scale along the bottom of your chart is in server time. To find the overlap on your own clock:

  1. Note the current server time shown next to your live quotes.
  2. Subtract your local time from it. The result is your offset.
  3. Subtract the offset from the 15:00 server-time start to get your local start time, and set an alarm for it.

Example: if server time is 17:00 and your local time is 12:00, your offset is +5 hours, so a 15:00 server start is 10:00 for you.

Converting the 15:00-18:59 server-time overlap to local time with a +5 hour offset
With a +5 hour offset, subtract 5 hours from the server time: the 15:00 server start of the overlap is 10:00 on your clock.

The US and Europe switch to and from daylight saving on different weekends. For about three weeks in spring and one week in autumn, the US is on summer time while the UK and Europe are not. New York is then 4 hours behind London instead of 5, so on London's clock the overlap starts an hour earlier and lasts about an hour longer than usual, in both periods. A session-shading indicator or a vertical line drawn at the overlap start shows the window directly on the chart.

How much more price moves in the London–New York overlap

The Lab measured the average range of 1-hour candles on broker demo data from 2025-10-20 to 2026-10-21. On EURUSD, an average 1-hour candle in the overlap (15:00-18:59 server time) covered 17.9 pips; in Asian hours it covered 8.8 pips. So an average overlap hour moved about twice as far as an Asian one. This is past data, not a forecast.

EURUSD average 1-hour candle range by session, 2025-10-20 to 2026-10-21Illustration
Asian 01:00-09:59
8.8 pips
London morning 10:00-14:59
13.1 pips
Overlap 15:00-18:59
17.9 pips
Late New York 19:00-23:59
10.3 pips

Gold does not follow the same pattern. On XAUUSD over the same period, an average overlap hour covered $30.7. Asian hours averaged $21, and the London morning averaged only $18.7, which is lower than Asia. Don't assume that every pair or metal goes quiet in Asia and wakes up in London. Check each symbol you trade.

Sizing your stop and lot for overlap hours

The figures here are an illustrative example. You have a $10,000 account and risk 1% per trade on EURUSD. One standard lot is worth $10 per pip. For the overlap, you double the stop from 10 to 20 pips and halve the lot size.

Same money at risk with a wider stop during the overlap
Risk in money$10,000 × 1%= $100
Lots, Asian hours, 10-pip stop$100 ÷ (10 × $10)= 1.00
Lots, overlap, 20-pip stop$100 ÷ (20 × $10)= 0.50
Risk stays $1001.00 lot vs 0.50 lot

A 10-pip stop is smaller than the Lab's 17.9-pip average overlap hour, so ordinary movement can hit it before your idea has played out. Here is a simple rule: if your stop is smaller than the average 1-hour range for the hour you are trading, widen the stop and cut the lot size, or skip the trade. If you expect to hold the trade for several hours, one hour's average range is a minimum, not a safe stop distance. The chart below shows a 10-pip stop hit by an ordinary dip while a 20-pip stop survives.

EURUSD long trade in the overlap: a 10-pip stop is hit by an ordinary swing, a 20-pip stop survivesIllustration
Entry 1.10001.100010-pip stop1.099020-pip stop1.0980Buy at close10-pip stop hit20-pip stop still open
Illustrative values: you buy at the close of the first candle (1.1000), so that candle's earlier low does not touch your stop. A normal overlap dip later reaches below the 10-pip stop but stays above the 20-pip stop, and price then moves in

Checks before you trade the overlap

  • Clock: confirm the overlap in server time and in your local time, and look out for a daylight-saving change.
  • News: check the economic calendar. Major US releases often land inside the overlap, and they can push the range far past its average.
  • Volatility now: compare the current ATR (Average True Range, an indicator showing how far price has typically moved per candle recently, here averaged over the last 14 candles) with its usual level. The Lab's EURUSD 1-hour ATR averaged 11.6 pips, and the top 10% of readings were above 16.3 pips (past data, not a forecast).
  • Stop vs hourly range: if your stop is tighter than the average 1-hour range for this session (17.9 pips on EURUSD in the Lab's overlap), widen it and cut the lot, or skip the trade.

FAQ

Is the London–New York overlap the best time to trade breakouts?

There is no best time for everyone. A breakout has more room to run during the overlap, but news spikes can push price through a level and straight back. If your method needs follow-through, the overlap can suit it. If you fade ranges, quieter hours may suit you better.

Is the spread lower during the overlap?

On major pairs it is usually at the tighter end of its normal range, because more banks are quoting prices. It can still widen sharply for a few minutes around big news releases. Before you enter, check the live spread in the order window and compare it with what you normally see on that pair in Asian hours; if it is several times wider, wait.

Related terms