How to Convert Different Market Opens to My Local Time Zone

January 17, 2009

I recently responded to a question about how to convert the London open to a local time zone.  Interestingly, the trader who posted the question lives in New Zealand and that adds the complexity.  Below is my response to the question:

So, New Zealand is GMT+13 now (daylight saving). London opens at 8:00 GMT (non daylight saving). Remember New Zealand and the Northern Hemisphere are the opposite. It will be 8 + 13 = 21 local New Zealand time, which is 9 PM local when London opens.

During non daylight saving, New Zealand is GMT + 12. London opens at 7:00 GMT (daylight savings). It will be 7 + 12 = 19 local New Zealand time, which is 7 PM local when London opens.

Oanda has a tool called FX Market Hours.  The tool detects the local time on your PC and displays when the major markets, e.g. London, New York, Tokyo, open and close.

If you like to figure out when a major market opens and closes in your local time zone, here is how I do it.

  1. First, figure out your local time in relation to GMT.  For example, my local time in terms of GMT is GMT-8 in Standard Time.  When in day light savings, it is GMT-7.
  2. Second, take the major market open time and add to or subtract from the number you obtain from the step above.  For example:
    • London opens at 8 GMT in Standard Time.  My local time in terms of GMT is GMT-8 in Standard Time.  So, 8 - 8 = 0.  When London opens, it is midnight at my local time.
    • London opens at 7 GMT in Day Light Savings.  My local time in terms of GMT is GMT-7 in day light savings.  So 7 - 7 = 0.  When London opens, it is midnight at my local time.
  3. If you live in a place where you don’t have day light savings, here is an example.  Let’s use Singapore as an example.  Singapore is GMT+8.  Singapore does not have day light savings.
    • London opens at 8 GMT in Standard Time.  Singapore local time in terms of GMT is GMT+8 in Standard Time.  So, 8 + 8 = 16.  When London opens, it is 4 PM at Singapore local time.
    • London opens at 7 GMT in Day Light Savings.  Singapore local time in terms of GMT is GMT+8 in Standard Time.  So 7 + 8 = 15.  When London opens, it is 3 PM at Singapore local time.

Also, this world clock page helps figure out when day light savings is in effect.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 17th, 2009 at 10:43 am and is filed under Fundamental. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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