Twice a year, the forex market quietly shifts around Toronto traders. Not because anything changes in the market, but because the clocks change, and they don’t change on the same day everywhere.
This fall, Europe turns its clocks back on Sunday, October 25. North America follows a week later, on Sunday, November 1. For that one week in between, London is four hours ahead of Toronto instead of the usual five. Anything tied to European time lands an hour later on your Toronto clock.
It sounds minor. It’s exactly the kind of thing that catches people out.
What changes, and when
Here’s how the key times look from Toronto across the three periods. US events, like 8:30 a.m. data and the 9:30 a.m. stock market open, stay put the whole time, because they’re set in New York time and Toronto changes its clocks on the same day as New York.
| Event (local time) | Until Oct 24 | Oct 25 to Oct 31 | From Nov 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| London open (8:00 a.m. London) | 3:00 a.m. | 4:00 a.m. | 3:00 a.m. |
| London 4 p.m. fix | 11:00 a.m. | 12:00 p.m. | 11:00 a.m. |
| Tokyo open (9:00 a.m. Tokyo) | 8:00 p.m. | 8:00 p.m. | 7:00 p.m. |
| US data releases | 8:30 a.m. | 8:30 a.m. | 8:30 a.m. |
| US stock market open | 9:30 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. | 9:30 a.m. |
All times are Toronto time. Japan doesn’t use daylight saving, so Tokyo times shift for Toronto only when Toronto changes its own clocks on November 1.
Two practical effects for that in-between week:
- The London open arrives an hour later in Toronto, around 4:00 a.m. instead of 3:00.
- The London-New York overlap runs an hour longer in Toronto time, because London closes an hour later on your clock. The 4 p.m. London fix moves from 11:00 a.m. to noon.
For a refresher on how the sessions normally line up, see our guides to the London session in Toronto time and the best time to trade forex in Toronto.
How traders get caught out
Picture this. A Toronto trader likes to catch the first hour of the London session. Every weekday, their phone alarm goes off at 2:45 a.m., they make a coffee, and they’re watching EUR/USD by 3:00 when London opens.
On Monday, October 26, they do exactly the same thing. They sit down at 3:00, and nothing is happening. The market is still quiet. They wait, get restless, and take a trade out of boredom at 3:30, in thin overnight conditions. Forty minutes later, London actually opens, the spread normalizes, and price runs straight through their stop.
Nothing about the market was unusual. Their routine was simply an hour early for a week, and they didn’t realize it.
Other versions of the same problem:
- A time-based alert set for “London open” fires an hour early
- A strategy built around the 4 p.m. London fix is watched at 11:00 a.m., when the flows actually come at noon
- A trader plans to be done before “London closes” and stays in through the extra hour of overlap
- An economic calendar set to a fixed GMT offset shows European data at the wrong Toronto time
Your broker’s clock may change too
There’s another layer. Many forex brokers run their MetaTrader servers on a clock set so that the trading day closes at 5:00 p.m. New York time. When New York changes its clocks on November 1, the server clock usually shifts with it.
In practice, that means the time stamps on your platform can be different from your local time, and different again a week later. Daily candles still close at 5:00 p.m. Toronto time, but intraday times on your charts may not line up with what you expect. If you rely on time-based levels, like the high and low of the first London hour, check which clock your platform is using.
How to stay on top of it
A few simple habits remove almost all of the risk:
- Put both dates in your calendar: October 25 for Europe, November 1 for North America. And the spring ones: in 2027, North America moves forward on March 14 and Europe on March 28, creating the same mismatch in reverse.
- Set alerts by price, not time. A price alert at a support zone doesn’t care what time zone you’re in. This is one reason we prefer planning with price alerts.
- Check your economic calendar’s time zone and make sure it’s set to Toronto time, so it adjusts automatically.
- Recheck session-based strategies for the in-between week, especially anything tied to the London open or the London fix.
- Know your platform’s server time, and note when it changes.
Which instruments are affected most?
Anything that trades heavily during European hours feels the shift: EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and gold, which often moves sharply around the London open. (Our guide to trading gold covers why.)
USD/CAD is affected least, because its busiest hours are tied to North American data and the New York open, which don’t move for Toronto traders. Its main shift is the London fix moving later that week. Our USD/CAD intraday guide explains the pair’s normal daily rhythm.
The bottom line
From October 25 to October 31, Europe has changed its clocks and Toronto hasn’t. The London open arrives an hour later, the London fix moves to noon, and the overlap with New York runs an hour longer. US times don’t change. Put the dates in your calendar, set alerts by price instead of time, and double-check anything in your routine that depends on European hours.
Disclosure: The author, Mike Harding, founded Academy of Financial Markets in Toronto and teaches its mentorship program. This article is educational and is not financial advice. Trading foreign exchange carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors.