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Gold futures trading hours, time zones and the daily break
When COMEX gold futures (GC) and Micro Gold (MGC) are open, how the times convert across time zones and daylight saving changes, and what holiday sessions looked like in 2026.
By the NQ Replay team · Updated
Short answer
Gold futures trade on CME Globex from Sunday 6:00 p.m. to Friday 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (5:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Central), with a 60-minute break every day from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET. GC and MGC share this schedule, per CME Group's Gold and Micro Gold contract specifications.
The weekly schedule
Each gold futures session runs from 6:00 p.m. ET one evening to 5:00 p.m. ET the next afternoon. The week starts with the Sunday evening open and ends with the Friday 5:00 p.m. ET close; the Monday–Thursday 5:00 p.m. pause is the daily maintenance break listed by CME Group.
| Event | Eastern (ET) | Central (CT) |
|---|---|---|
| Week opens | Sunday 6:00 p.m. | Sunday 5:00 p.m. |
| Daily break starts | Mon–Thu 5:00 p.m. | Mon–Thu 4:00 p.m. |
| Daily break ends (next session opens) | Mon–Thu 6:00 p.m. | Mon–Thu 5:00 p.m. |
| Week closes | Friday 5:00 p.m. | Friday 4:00 p.m. |
How a gold futures session is dated
A session is labelled by the day it ends. The Sunday 6:00 p.m. ET open is the start of Monday's session, and Tuesday's session starts at 6:00 p.m. ET on Monday. This matters when you look up a date: an event on Monday evening in New York sits in Tuesday's session.
The NQ Replay archive uses the same convention — each session runs from 18:00 ET on the previous calendar day to 17:00 ET on the session date — so a date picked in replay matches the exchange's trading day.
Gold futures hours in other time zones (2026)
The schedule is fixed to New York and Chicago clock time, so it does not move for US traders when clocks change. In UTC and London it shifts by an hour, and for a few weeks each year the US and UK change clocks on different dates. In 2026 the US moved to daylight time on March 8 and returns to standard time on November 1 (NIST); the UK changes on March 29 and October 25 (GOV.UK).
| 2026 period | Open (6:00 p.m. ET) | Break (5:00–6:00 p.m. ET) |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 1 – Mar 7 and Nov 1 – Dec 31 (EST, GMT) | 23:00 UTC · 23:00 London | 22:00–23:00 UTC |
| Mar 8 – Mar 28 (EDT, GMT) | 22:00 UTC · 22:00 London | 21:00–22:00 UTC |
| Mar 29 – Oct 24 (EDT, BST) | 22:00 UTC · 23:00 London | 21:00–22:00 UTC |
| Oct 25 – Oct 31 (EDT, GMT) | 22:00 UTC · 22:00 London | 21:00–22:00 UTC |
If you replay sessions from different months, keep your notes in ET. A London-based trader who writes "the 23:00 open" will be an hour off for part of March and late October.
Holiday sessions observed in the 2026 archive
US holidays usually produce a shortened gold session rather than a normal one. The table below is what the 1-minute archive actually contains, not an official calendar — always use CME Group's holiday schedule for planning.
| Session date | Holiday | Last 1-minute bar in the archive (ET) |
|---|---|---|
| Mon, Jan 19, 2026 | Martin Luther King Jr. Day | 14:29 (session started 6:00 p.m. ET the evening before) |
| Mon, Feb 16, 2026 | Presidents' Day | 14:29 (session started 6:00 p.m. ET the evening before) |
| Fri, Apr 3, 2026 | Good Friday | No GC session in the archive |
| Mon, May 25, 2026 | Memorial Day | 14:29 (session started 6:00 p.m. ET the evening before) |
| Fri, Jun 19, 2026 | Juneteenth | 12:59 (session started 6:00 p.m. ET the evening before) |
| Fri, Jul 3, 2026 | Independence Day (observed) | 12:59 (session started 6:00 p.m. ET the evening before) |
For backtesting, treat these as special sessions: liquidity and timing differ from a normal day, so either exclude them or tag them separately in your journal.
Same clock as Nasdaq futures, different rhythm
NQ and MNQ use the same Sunday–Friday Globex framework with a 5:00 p.m. ET break (see Nasdaq futures trading hours). What differs is where activity concentrates: in the archive, gold spreads a larger share of its volume across the Asian and London hours. The measured hour-by-hour picture is on when gold futures are most active.
Frequently asked questions
What time do gold futures open on Sunday?
6:00 p.m. Eastern Time (5:00 p.m. Central Time) on Sunday, per CME Group's GC and MGC specifications. That Sunday evening belongs to Monday's trading session.
Do gold futures trade 24 hours a day?
Nearly. CME Globex runs from 6:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET the next day, with a 60-minute break each day beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET. Between Friday 5:00 p.m. and Sunday 6:00 p.m. ET there is no trading.
What is the gold futures daily break?
A one-hour pause from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET (4:00–5:00 p.m. CT), Monday to Thursday. It also marks the boundary between trading sessions.
Do Micro Gold (MGC) futures have the same hours as GC?
Yes. CME Group lists the same Globex schedule for MGC as for GC: Sunday–Friday 6:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m. ET with a daily hour break at 5:00 p.m. ET.
Do gold futures hours change with daylight saving time?
Not in New York or Chicago local time — the schedule is fixed to Eastern/Central clock time. The open moves by one hour in UTC, London or other zones when either region changes its clocks.
Are gold futures open on US holidays?
Often with a shortened session rather than a full close, and sometimes closed. CME Group publishes the holiday schedule for each year; always check it before planning a session.
Sources
- CME Group — Gold (GC) futures contract specifications
- CME Group — Micro Gold (MGC) futures contract specifications
- CME Group — Globex trading hours and holiday schedules
- NIST — Daylight saving time rules (United States)
- GOV.UK — When do the clocks change
- NQ Replay 1-minute archive (GC, MGC, NQ, MNQ), measured October 23, 2026. Measurements describe past sessions only.