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The best time to trade futures

When each futures market is busiest, the hours and days to be careful with, and a live clock showing whether CME futures are open right now in your time zone.

LemonTrades·Guides
A clock face with the busiest trading hours highlighted.

TL;DR

  • The busiest window for most futures is 8:00 to 11:30 AM ET: US data at 8:30 and the stock market open at 9:30.
  • Crude is busiest from 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM ET and around Wednesday’s inventory report; currencies and gold in the London–New York overlap.
  • Be careful in the first seconds after big data, around the 5:00 PM ET daily break and at Sunday’s open.
  • LemonTrades warns you before the releases that move futures, tells you what came out a minute after, and explains every sharp move.

Futures trade almost 23 hours a day, but they’re not equally good to trade all day. Most of the volume, and the cleanest moves, come in a few windows. Here’s when they are, market by market.

CME Globex futures (stock indices, energy, metals, rates, FX) Checking…

Live, in your time zone (local). S&P 500 futures: –, gold: $–, WTI: $–. Full hours on our CME trading hours page.

The best times to trade futures, in general

  • 8:00 to 11:30 AM ET: US data at 8:30, the stock market open at 9:30, and London still trading. The busiest stretch for almost every contract.
  • 3:00 to 4:00 PM ET: the end of the US stock session, when index futures get a second burst of volume.
  • 3:00 to 5:00 AM ET: the London open, important for currencies, gold and European index futures.

By market

  • Stock index futures (ES, NQ): 9:30 to 11:30 AM ET and the last hour before 4:00 PM. Overnight they drift on thinner volume.
  • Crude oil (CL): 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM ET, the floor-session hours, and especially Wednesday at 10:30 AM ET, when the EIA inventory report comes out.
  • Gold (GC): 8:00 AM to 1:30 PM ET, around the London–New York overlap and US data. See gold market hours.
  • Treasury futures (ZN): 8:30 AM ET on data days, and Fed decisions at 2:00 PM ET.
  • Currency futures (6E, 6J): the London–New York overlap, 8:00 AM to noon ET.

Times to be careful

  • The first seconds after big data (CPI, the jobs report): spreads widen and stops can fill far away. Many traders wait 15 minutes. See the economic calendar.
  • Around 5:00 PM ET, when CME closes for its daily hour and liquidity thins out before and after.
  • Late Friday and holiday sessions, with thin volume and early closes.
  • Sunday evening’s open, which can gap on weekend news.
  • The overnight Asian hours for US contracts, when moves are small and choppy, unless big news breaks.

The best days

Tuesday to Thursday usually have the steadiest volume. Monday mornings can start slowly or with a gap; Friday afternoons fade, except on jobs report Fridays, the first Friday of most months, which are among the busiest of all.

The best time for you

Match a market to the hours you can actually watch. If you can only trade early evening in Europe, US index futures at the New York open fit; if you’re in Asia, gold and currency futures during London hours may suit better. Then practice in that window first: our trade simulator runs on live prices. Picking a contract? See the best futures to trade.

Education, not financial advice. Futures are leveraged and you can lose more than you deposit. Holiday hours differ; check CME’s calendar. See our disclaimer.

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