Forex Trading Hours in Nigeria (WAT)

Forex sessions in West Africa Time: Tokyo 01:00 to 10:00, London 08:00 to 17:00, New York 13:00 to 22:00, overlap 13:00 to 17:00

Table of Contents

The forex market runs 24 hours a day, five days a week, but not every hour is the same. Nigeria uses West Africa Time (WAT, UTC+1) all year and never changes its clocks, while London and New York do. Here are the sessions in WAT and the hours that matter most for a Nigerian trader.

Chart of forex sessions in WAT: Tokyo 01:00 to 10:00, London 08:00 to 17:00, New York 13:00 to 22:00, busiest overlap 13:00 to 17:00 — UK and US summer time. In winter, London and New York sessions start one hour later in WAT.

The trading week in WAT

The week opens on Sunday at 5 pm New York time, which is 22:00 WAT while the US is on summer time (mid-March to early November) and 23:00 WAT in winter. It closes at the same New York time on Friday, so 22:00 or 23:00 WAT on Friday.

Main sessions in Nigerian time

Session	Summer (London BST / US EDT)	Winter (GMT / EST)
Tokyo	01:00 – 10:00 WAT	01:00 – 10:00 WAT
London	08:00 – 17:00 WAT	09:00 – 18:00 WAT
New York	13:00 – 22:00 WAT	14:00 – 23:00 WAT
London–New York overlap	13:00 – 17:00 WAT	14:00 – 18:00 WAT

Session times are the usual 08:00–17:00 local business hours in each centre; Tokyo does not change its clocks.

For a few weeks in March and October/November, the UK and the US change their clocks on different dates, so the London and New York columns can be an hour apart from the table for a short time.

The best hours for most Nigerian traders

London–New York overlap (13:00–17:00 or 14:00–18:00 WAT): the most active part of the day for EUR/USD, GBP/USD and gold, usually with the tightest spreads.
London morning (08:00 or 09:00 WAT onwards): European pairs start moving; a good time to plan the day.
Late night and early morning in Nigeria: mostly the Asian session; quieter for most major pairs, often with wider spreads.

News times to know

Big US releases come out at 8:30 am New York time: 13:30 WAT in US summer and 14:30 WAT in US winter. That includes the monthly US jobs report (non-farm payrolls). Prices can jump and spreads widen around these times, so be careful with stop-losses and new trades just before them.

Gold, indices and crypto

Not every instrument follows the forex hours. Gold and stock indices have their own sessions and daily breaks, and crypto CFDs may trade at the weekend. In MetaTrader, right-click the symbol and open its specification to see exact hours. Platform downloads are on our MT4 and MT5 page.