Futures Trading Hours: Globex, Sessions and the Overnight
Most US futures trade nearly 23 hours a day, five days a week. That does not mean liquidity is equal across those hours — the difference between the US cash session and the Asian session is the difference between a tight market and a wide one.
The Globex schedule (US Eastern Time)
| Session | ET | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Open | Sunday 18:00 | Thin, gaps from weekend news |
| Asian session | 20:00 – 03:00 | Thinnest liquidity, widest spreads |
| European open | 03:00 – 09:30 | Liquidity builds |
| US cash session | 09:30 – 16:00 | Highest volume and depth |
| US afternoon | 16:00 – 17:00 | Settles, volume drops sharply |
| Daily maintenance | 17:00 – 18:00 | Closed |
Most index futures (ES, NQ, YM, RTY) follow this pattern. Commodity futures break earlier for settlement — crude settles at 14:30 ET, and the energy complex has its own maintenance window.
Why the session matters more than the hours
| US cash session | Overnight | |
|---|---|---|
| Spread on ES | 1 tick typical | 1–2 ticks, wider at news |
| Depth at each price | Deep | Thin |
| Slippage on market orders | Minimal | Can be several ticks |
| Stop-hunt behaviour | Less common | Common in thin books |
An identical strategy can be profitable in the cash session and unprofitable overnight purely because of the spread and slippage. If your backtest does not model session-dependent fills, it is overstating results.
The overnight session is where gap risk lives
A position held past 16:00 ET carries the risk of news breaking while you sleep — an earnings release, a central bank statement, a geopolitical event. Your stop order sits in the book, but if price gaps past it, you are filled at the gap, not at the stop.
Since price limits were removed from index futures, overnight gaps of 2–3% are normal events, not tail risks. A position sized without that allowance can lose several times the intended stop.
Contract-specific exceptions
| Contract | Note |
|---|---|
| Grains (ZC, ZS, ZW) | Shorter session, daily price limits still apply |
| Energy (CL, NG) | Settle 14:30 ET; separate maintenance window |
| Metals (GC, SI, HG) | Settle 13:30 ET |
| Eurex contracts | Follow European hours, not US |
| JPX / SGX / HKFE | Follow Asian hours entirely |
Practical rules
- Trade the session you can watch. A strategy tested on US hours, executed at 02:00 ET, is a different strategy
- Size down overnight, not up. Thinner books mean worse fills on the same stop
- Know your contract's settlement time — it is when daily margin is calculated
- Check the holiday calendar — early closes compress the session and thin the book further
See the margin guide for why the overnight requirement differs from intraday.
Most-looked-up contracts
- E-mini S&P 500 (ES)
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 (NQ)
- Crude Oil (CL)
- Gold (GC)
- Euro FX (6E)
- Corn (ZC)
- Silver (SI)
- Natural Gas (NG)
- Copper (HG)
Complete list of all 135: futures contract specifications.