Free tools · Gold

Best time to trade gold

Which hours of the day gold really moves, measured over the last 60 trading days and shown in your own time zone, with the London and New York killzones marked.

Education only — computed from a broker MT5 demo feed; not investment advice. We publish statistics worked out from the feed, not its candles.

Busiest 3 hours (average range)–
Average day range–
Busiest weekday–
Trading days in the average–
London Killzone New York AM Killzone busiest 3 hours ·
Hour (UTC)Average rangeOf the busiest hourNote
Weekday (UTC day)Average day range

In local time: Pakistan (PKT) · India (IST) · UAE (GST) · all time zones

Runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere. For learning and planning only, not financial advice. Check your broker's contract specification before trading.

How to read the chart

Each bar is the average distance between the high and the low of one hour of the day, in US dollars per ounce, over the last 60 trading days. Tall bars are the hours when gold usually travels far; short bars are hours when it mostly drifts. The shaded bands are the ICT London Killzone (02:00–05:00 New York time) and New York AM Killzone (07:00–10:00), placed at today's clock, so they move by an hour when the US changes its clocks.

What the hours mean for a trade plan

A stop or a target should fit the hour you trade. If the busiest hour averages $10 and a quiet Asian hour $3, a $4 stop is easily touched by noise around the London open and may never be reached at 2 a.m. in New York. The London–New York overlap (13:00–17:00 UTC in January, 12:00–16:00 in July) often brings the day's largest moves, especially on US data days: check the economic calendar first.

The averages describe the past, not tomorrow. A quiet hour can explode on news and a busy one can stay flat.

Size the trade with the lot size calculator or the gold lot size calculator, watch the live sessions and ICT killzones clock, and practise reading gold charts in the free Chart Challenge game.

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Prop firm challenges set a daily loss limit and a total drawdown limit. Sizing every trade from its stop loss, as this calculator does, keeps one loss a small part of those limits.

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Questions

What is the best time to trade gold?

Gold usually moves most in the London Killzone (07:00–10:00 UTC in January, 06:00–09:00 in July) and the New York AM Killzone (12:00–15:00 in January, 11:00–14:00 in July). The chart on this page shows the busiest hours of the last 60 trading days, updated every week.

Which day of the week moves gold the most?

It changes with the news. The weekday table shows the average range of each day over the last 60 trading days; days with US data such as the jobs report or CPI are often busier.

Why is the Asian session quieter for gold?

London and New York hold most of the gold market's volume. In Asian hours gold often ranges, and the London open can sweep the Asian high or low before the real move.

Where do these numbers come from?

From ICC Charts' own MT5 demo feed: the average high-low range of each hour, worked out once a week. We publish only these averages, not the candles. Education only, not investment advice.

Practise and trade with a plan

See fair value gaps, order blocks and liquidity drawn for you on live charts in ICC Charts, or train your eye in the free Chart Challenge game.

Open ICC Charts free → Play the chart game

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