Which hours are worth your screen time — for your market, in New York time.
Five timing facts that quietly decide where your fills, stops and settles land.
A CME trade date runs from 18:00 ET to 17:00 ET the next day. Sunday evening already counts as Monday, and a Thursday-night move belongs to Friday’s session.
Your account is marked to the settlement price. ES settles on the 15:59:30–16:00 ET VWAP, gold on 13:29–13:30 and crude on 14:28–14:30 — hours before Globex breaks.
When London and New York cash markets are both open, the book is deepest. For ES that runs from the 09:30 cash open to London’s close, and it’s usually where the day’s range gets made.
The US and Europe change clocks on different Sundays, so London opens at 04:00 ET instead of 03:00 for a week or more — 25–31 Oct 2026 and 14–27 Mar 2027. Anchor scripts to New York: in Pine use "America/New_York", not "GMT-5".
ES and NQ expire on the third Friday of March, June, September and December, settling to the index opening print. CME’s customary roll date is the Monday of expiry week. Crude expires monthly; gold has first notice days before each delivery month.