Gold trading hours in IST
| US summer time | US winter time | |
|---|---|---|
| When | Second Sunday of March to first Sunday of November | First Sunday of November to second Sunday of March |
| Weekly open | Monday 03:30 IST | Monday 04:30 IST |
| Daily break | 02:30 to 03:30 IST, Tuesday to Friday | 03:30 to 04:30 IST, Tuesday to Friday |
| Weekly close | Saturday 02:30 IST | Saturday 03:30 IST |
For 2026–27 that means: until Sunday 1 November 2026 gold opens at 03:30 IST on Mondays. From Monday 2 November 2026 it opens at 04:30 IST, and from Monday 15 March 2027, after the US clocks go forward on 14 March, it's back to 03:30.
India doesn't change its clocks, so every US change moves gold by an hour on your clock. The UK changes on different dates (25 October 2026 and 28 March 2027), so for one week in autumn and two weeks in spring, London and New York are an hour closer together than usual.
Why gold opens and closes at these times
Spot gold has no exchange of its own, but the prices brokers quote follow the main gold futures market, COMEX in New York. CME Group's gold contract specifications set its electronic hours as Sunday to Friday, 6:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. New York time, with a 60-minute break each day starting at 5:00 p.m. Convert that to IST and you get the table above.
Broker hours sit inside that window and often open a few minutes late. MT5 shows them in server time, which at many brokers and prop firms is GMT+3 in summer and GMT+2 in winter: add 2 hours 30 minutes in summer, or 3 hours 30 minutes in winter, to get IST. The5ers, for example, lists metals from 01:05 to 23:50 server time, which is 03:35 to 02:20 IST in summer.
When gold moves most during the Indian day
| Event | Local time | IST, summer | IST, winter |
|---|---|---|---|
| London morning open | 8:00 London | 12:30 | 13:30 |
| LBMA gold price auctions | 10:30 and 15:00 London | 15:00 and 19:30 | 16:00 and 20:30 |
| US data (NFP, CPI) | 8:30 New York | 18:00 | 19:00 |
| New York stock market open | 9:30 New York | 19:00 | 20:00 |
| FOMC rate decision | 14:00 New York | 23:30 | 00:30 (next day) |
"Summer" and "winter" here follow each country's own clock change. The quiet stretch is the Asian morning; volume picks up with London in the afternoon and peaks when New York opens, in the evening in India. Our guide to the best time to trade gold covers how each session behaves.
Upcoming US releases in IST
| Release | Date (US) | Time in IST |
|---|---|---|
| CPI inflation (September data) | Wednesday 14 October 2026 | 18:00 |
| FOMC rate decision | Wednesday 28 October 2026 | 23:30 (press conference 00:00 on Thursday 29 October) |
| Non-Farm Payrolls (October data) | Friday 6 November 2026 | 19:00 |
| CPI inflation (October data) | Tuesday 10 November 2026 | 19:00 |
| Non-Farm Payrolls (November data) | Friday 4 December 2026 | 19:00 |
| FOMC rate decision | Wednesday 9 December 2026 | 00:30 on Thursday 10 December (press conference 01:00) |
| CPI inflation (November data) | Thursday 10 December 2026 | 19:00 |
Gold can move sharply in the first minutes after these. The economic calendar lists every release, and XAUUSD news explains how gold usually reacts.
MCX gold timings
If you trade gold legally in India on MCX, the hours are different: 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. while the US is on summer time, and 9:00 a.m. to 11:55 p.m. in US winter, which starts again on Monday 2 November 2026. MCX changes its closing time with US daylight saving because its gold price follows the international market.
Holidays
On US holidays CME trades a shortened session or none at all, and many brokers close gold early or for the day. The next ones are Thanksgiving on Thursday 26 November 2026, Christmas on Friday 25 December and New Year's Day on Friday 1 January 2027. Brokers publish their own holiday hours a few days ahead, so check your platform that week.
Plan the trade, not just the time
Knowing when the market opens matters less than sizing the trade you take. The XAUUSD lot size calculator works out the lots from your stop loss, and the XAUUSD live chart shows the price in India time.