When Does U.S. Daylight Saving Time End in 2026? Forex Session Shifts Explained

If your New York-session alert suddenly appears an hour early—or the London–New York overlap looks different on your calendar—the likely cause is that the United States and other financial centers do not change clocks on the same date. In 2026, most of the U.S. ends daylight saving time on Sunday, November 1. Clocks in areas that observe the change go back at 2:00 a.m. local daylight time to 1:00 a.m. standard time. Forex session labels are conventions, so the displayed effect depends on whether your calendar uses New York time, UTC, your local time, or broker-server time.

When does U.S. daylight saving time end in 2026?

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) lists U.S. daylight saving time in 2026 as running from March 8 at 2:00 a.m. local time through November 1 at 2:00 a.m. local time. At the change, clocks are set back one hour: the local clock moves from 2:00 a.m. EDT to 1:00 a.m. EST at 06:00 UTC, and that 1:00 a.m. hour happens twice. New York then changes from UTC−4 to UTC−5. The time-zone offset changes; UTC itself does not.

This rule applies to most U.S. locations, but not all. NIST notes that Hawaii, most of Arizona, and U.S. territories including Puerto Rico and Guam do not observe DST; the Navajo Nation does observe it. If you schedule from a place that does not change clocks, your local clock will not “fall back” on November 1 even though New York time does.

First, verify your reference clock. If your source says “ET,” it means Eastern Time and will follow Eastern daylight or standard time. If it says “EDT” or “EST,” the UTC offset is explicit. If it says UTC, GMT, or your broker’s server time, do not manually add or subtract an hour until you know how that clock is configured. See the NIST 2026 daylight saving rules and its local time and UTC offset FAQ.

Why forex session times do not move everywhere at once

Foreign exchange is a decentralized over-the-counter market that operates across financial centers and time zones. There is no single exchange bell or regulator-issued “London session” timetable that defines official start and end times for every currency pair. The BIS describes FX trading as activity spanning multiple centers and notes that the market has no single trading venue. Brokers and market calendars may therefore label sessions differently, and their weekly opening or closing hours can depend on product and provider.

For a practical comparison, the table below uses a commonly used illustrative convention: London from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. London local time and New York from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. New York local time. Those are reference windows for comparing clocks, not guaranteed liquid hours or official market opening times. The overlap is calculated from those assumptions. “ICT” means Indochina Time (UTC+7), which does not observe daylight saving time.

The UK changes its clocks back on October 25, one week before most U.S. locations. That creates a short mismatch: during the October 26–30 workweek, the modeled New York window stays at 12:00–9:00 p.m. UTC, while the modeled London window moves one hour later in UTC. On November 1, New York’s local session moves one hour later in UTC as well. Under this convention, the overlap returns from five hours to four. The UK government clock-change calendar lists October 25 for the 2026 autumn change.

How should you adjust a forex calendar or trading routine?

1. Check whether your platform uses local time or a fixed offset

A calendar set to “America/New_York” should normally follow the region’s clock rules; a calendar set to UTC should not change when New York changes. A platform using a fixed GMT offset may behave differently from one using a named time zone. Broker charts can also use server time, which may not match your computer’s local time. Action: open the settings or help page and identify the zone name, not just the displayed abbreviation.

2. Convert one upcoming event as a test

Choose a scheduled event whose published time you can verify, then compare its New York, UTC, and local display. For example, after the U.S. switch, 8:30 a.m. EST is 1:30 p.m. UTC; before the switch, 8:30 a.m. EDT is 12:30 p.m. UTC. If your alert does not show the corresponding conversion, correct the time-zone setting before relying on it.

3. Recheck London–New York overlap for the week you plan to trade

For the October 26–30 week, London has returned to GMT but New York remains on EDT. From November 2, both are on standard time. If your strategy depends on the first hour of the overlap, use the relevant week’s UTC conversion rather than a static “overlap” label. If you trade another center, check that center’s own rules: Sydney and other southern-hemisphere locations may be moving into daylight time while the Northern Hemisphere is moving out.

4. Verify broker-specific hours and order handling

Use your broker’s official trading-hours page for the exact product you trade, especially around the weekend transition. Spot FX, currency futures, CFDs, and individual pairs may have different trading availability, maintenance breaks, spreads, and Sunday reopening times. A chart’s session shading is only as reliable as its configured time zone and template. Avoid assuming that a named session automatically means normal liquidity or execution conditions.

Common time-change misunderstandings

“Forex sessions all shift by one hour on November 1.”

Only clocks tied to locations observing the U.S. change move back on that date. UTC does not change, London already changed on October 25, and some U.S. regions do not use DST. The calendar effect depends on the time zone used to define a session. Check: compare both the session’s local city clock and your display clock.

“The forex market closes for the clock change.”

The time change itself does not create a universal FX exchange closure, because spot FX is decentralized and trades across venues. However, individual broker products can have their own weekly breaks or scheduled maintenance. Check: confirm your provider’s published hours for the specific instrument and weekend.

“The London–New York overlap is a fixed four hours.”

That may describe a common convention for much of the year, but the actual overlap in local business hours changes during the one-week gap between the UK and U.S. clock changes. The table’s five-hour interval for October 26–30 follows the stated 8-to-5 local reference windows; it does not promise that liquidity or volatility will be evenly distributed across those hours. Check: treat session ranges as a time-zone planning tool, then use your instrument’s observed market activity for strategy decisions.

Finish with a quick self-check

On Friday, October 30, note the time shown for a New York event in your calendar and compare it with the same event in UTC. On Monday, November 2, repeat the check. A New York event at the same local clock time should appear one hour later in UTC after the change: for example, 8:00 a.m. New York is 12:00 p.m. UTC during EDT and 1:00 p.m. UTC during EST. Confirm your device uses automatic time-zone updates, your calendar is set to a named region where appropriate, and your broker’s session template matches the intended zone. If those three checks agree, your forex session alerts should be aligned for the post-DST week.

Official references

• NIST: Daylight saving time rules
• NIST: Local time and UTC offsets
• UK Government: When the clocks change
• BIS: The global, multi-center FX market