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When are gold futures most active? GC volume and range by hour
Gold futures are open almost around the clock, but activity is not spread evenly. We measured every hour of 159 full outright GC sessions from the 2026 archive so you can choose practice windows from data rather than folklore.
By the NQ Replay team · Updated
Short answer
In 2026's archive, gold futures were most active from 8:00 to 11:59 a.m. ET, which held a median 35.3% of each session's volume; the 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. ET hours had the highest volume and widest range. A smaller second peak came around 9:00 p.m. ET, during Asian hours. This describes past sessions — it is not a recommendation to trade at any time.
How we measured it
We used every full outright GC session available in the NQ Replay archive from January 2 to August 21, 2026 (159 sessions of 1-minute bars). For each clock hour in New York time we took the median contracts traded and the median high-to-low range across sessions. Hours follow the CME Globex schedule, so 5:00 p.m. ET (the daily break) is absent. The denominator for each hour is the number of those sessions with at least one bar in that hour.
GC hour by hour (ET)
| Hour starting (ET) | Median volume (contracts) | Relative to peak | Median range ($/oz) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6:00 p.m. | 2,657 | 21% | $19.4 |
| 7:00 p.m. | 2,529 | 20% | $16.3 |
| 8:00 p.m. | 3,702 | 29% | $22.6 |
| 9:00 p.m. | 5,155 | 40% | $25.4 |
| 10:00 p.m. | 3,486 | 27% | $19.0 |
| 11:00 p.m. | 2,581 | 20% | $14.3 |
| 12:00 a.m. | 2,391 | 18% | $14.0 |
| 1:00 a.m. | 3,832 | 30% | $19.2 |
| 2:00 a.m. | 4,526 | 35% | $17.6 |
| 3:00 a.m. | 4,445 | 34% | $17.8 |
| 4:00 a.m. | 4,059 | 31% | $17.3 |
| 5:00 a.m. | 4,521 | 35% | $15.1 |
| 6:00 a.m. | 3,789 | 29% | $16.0 |
| 7:00 a.m. | 4,572 | 35% | $18.2 |
| 8:00 a.m. | 8,602 | 66% | $26.9 |
| 9:00 a.m. | 12,561 | 97% | $33.0 |
| 10:00 a.m. | 12,937 | 100% | $30.4 |
| 11:00 a.m. | 8,957 | 69% | $24.8 |
| 12:00 p.m. | 6,122 | 47% | $19.2 |
| 1:00 p.m. | 6,202 | 48% | $16.6 |
| 2:00 p.m. | 3,850 | 30% | $16.2 |
| 3:00 p.m. | 4,139 | 32% | $15.5 |
| 4:00 p.m. | 1,836 | 14% | $12.0 |
Share of volume by window
| Window (ET) | GC | MGC | NQ (for comparison) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6:00 p.m. – midnight | 17.1% | 24% | 7.4% |
| Midnight – 8:00 a.m. | 26.8% | 25.5% | 10.2% |
| 8:00 a.m. – noon | 35.3% | 32.3% | 45.5% |
| Noon – 5:00 p.m. | 17.9% | 16.4% | 35.8% |
| 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. only | 20.3% | 18.8% | 31.2% |
The contrast with Nasdaq futures is the useful part. NQ's medians put roughly four-fifths of its volume in US hours (8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET); gold keeps roughly a quarter of its volume overnight and a sixth in the Asian evening. A gold session can already have moved a long way before New York opens.
What this means for practice
- Range scales your stops. The 9:00 a.m. ET hour's median range was $33.0/oz — 330 ticks, or $3,300 on one GC contract and $330 on one MGC. A stop sized for the 12:00 a.m. hour ($14.0) would behave very differently there. Check the numbers with the gold futures calculator.
- 8:30 a.m. ET is often a scheduled-release minute. Part of the 8:00 hour's activity comes from US data. See gold around CPI, jobs and FOMC releases.
- Practise the window you can actually trade. If you are only free in the Asian evening, replaying US-morning sessions trains a different market.
- Medians hide days. Individual sessions vary widely; the session-range interquartile band was $83.1–$153.9 per ounce.
Contract hours are from CME Group; all volume and range figures are measured from the archive and say nothing about future sessions.
Frequently asked questions
What time are gold futures most active?
In the 159 full outright GC sessions measured (Jan 2 – Aug 21, 2026), the 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. ET hours had the highest median volume and the widest median hourly range. Together they held a median 20.3% of each session's volume.
Is the most active hour the best time to trade?
Not necessarily. More volume and range mean bigger moves both ways, faster decisions and larger stop distances. 'Best' depends on your rules, risk and schedule — use replay to test which window suits your process.
Is gold busy during the Asian session?
Busier than Nasdaq futures. A median 17.1% of GC volume traded between 6:00 p.m. and midnight ET, with a local peak in the 9:00 p.m. ET hour, compared with 7.4% for NQ in the same window.
Does Micro Gold (MGC) follow the same pattern?
Broadly yes. MGC's busiest hours were also 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. ET, but a larger share of its volume traded in the evening (median 24% between 6:00 p.m. and midnight ET).
Sources
- CME Group — Gold (GC) futures contract specifications (trading hours)
- CME Group — Micro Gold (MGC) futures contract specifications
- NQ Replay 1-minute archive (GC, MGC, NQ, MNQ), measured October 23, 2026. Measurements describe past sessions only.