The Asia session for U.S. futures runs from 7:00 pm to 3:00 am ET, sitting inside the broader futures trading day that opens Sunday at 6:00 pm ET and closes Friday at 5:00 pm ET. The Asia session in futures trading is a market convention describing the overnight window when Asian financial centers are active, not a separate exchange session—U.S. futures trade continuously on CME Globex through it.
That distinction might sound like a technicality, but it’s where much of the confusion about overnight hours starts.
What is the Asia session in futures trading?
Nothing on the exchange’s side opens or closes at 7:00 pm ET. The label is about who is at their desk. That’s the whole definition, and it’s worth carrying into everything below.
It’s a convention, not an exchange session
Traders borrowed the Asia session framing from foreign exchange, where the trading day genuinely hands off between Sydney, Tokyo, London, and New York as each market opens and closes. Futures kept the vocabulary. On CME Globex, the book stays open straight through, so the handoff happens among the participants while the venue carries on regardless. NinjaTrader’s rundown of futures trading hours covers the continuous schedule in more detail.
Asia session or Asian session?
It’s the same window, two names. You’ll see both names in platform menus, research notes, and more, including NinjaTrader’s breakdown of the trading day, which uses “Asian session.” This article sticks with “Asia session,” but either version points at the same overnight stretch.
Asia session futures hours in ET
Most U.S. futures markets are open nearly 24 hours a day, six days a week—from Sunday at 6:00 pm ET to Friday at 5:00 pm ET—with a one-hour daily maintenance break. The Asia session is the front end of each of those trading days.
| Window | Hours | What characterizes it |
|---|---|---|
| Asia session | 7:00 pm – 3:00 am ET | Asian financial centers are active; U.S. index futures keep trading on CME Globex |
| European open | 3:00 am – 6:00 am ET | London and Frankfurt come in and participation broadens |
| U.S. open | 8:30 am – 11:30 am ET | The most active U.S. window; scheduled economic data often lands at 8:30 am ET |
| Overnight sessions | 6:00 pm – 8:30 am ET | The full stretch outside the main U.S. session, of which the Asia session is one part |
Those windows are NinjaTrader’s own, taken from its breakdown of the futures trading day. They’re conventions rather than exchange definitions, which is why they get described loosely instead of to the minute.
Where the Asia session sits in the Globex day
The futures trading day starts the evening before: the CME Globex session opens Sunday at 6:00 pm ET, reopens each weekday evening after the daily break, and runs through to the following afternoon. So Tuesday’s trading day begins Monday at 6:00 pm ET, and the Asia session is its opening stretch. If you’re arriving from equities, this is usually the piece that takes the longest to get comfortable with, and NinjaTrader’s guide to switching from other asset classes walks through the rest of the adjustment.
The daily maintenance break
CME Group puts the daily maintenance period for equity index futures at 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CT (5:00 pm – 6:00 pm ET) in its equity index trading hours guidance. The book closes for that hour. Then the next trading day, and with it the run-up to the Asia session, gets under way.
If your charts show a gap every evening around 5:00 pm ET, that’s the scheduled break doing its job.
Why the ET times are conventions, not exchange hours
These windows are market conventions, so the clock times attached to them aren’t set by the exchange. CME Group publishes its trading hours in CT unless otherwise stated, and notes that hours are subject to change. Around any clock change, check the exchange’s published hours for the contract you trade instead of assuming the window sits where it did last month.
What actually trades during the Asia session
The Asia session is open across the futures complex, but contracts keep their own schedules through it, and the differences are wider than most session diagrams suggest.
Equity index futures and their micros
Equity index futures and their micro-sized counterparts trade on CME Globex through Asia session hours, and CME Group describes both its E-mini equity index futures and options as carrying deep liquidity outside U.S. cash market hours. That’s why most Asia session conversation is about those contracts specifically. The E-mini S&P 500 (ES) and E-mini Nasdaq-100 (NQ) are the usual reference points, with the Micro E-mini versions (MES and MNQ) covering the same underlying indices at a smaller contract size.
Any trading symbols, company names, logos, or trademarks displayed are used for illustrative purposes only and remain the property of their respective owners. Their use does not imply affiliation with, endorsement by, or sponsorship of NinjaTrader, nor do any trading symbols displayed constitute investment advice or recommendations.
NinjaTrader’s pages on equity index futures, E-mini S&P 500 futures, and E-mini Micro contracts carry the contract specifications for each. If you’re holding a position through the session rather than trading it flat, it’s also worth reading how margin works in futures before you size it.
Energy keeps the same broad schedule
Crude oil runs on a similar clock. CME Group’s WTI product overview gives WTI Crude Oil futures a Sunday – Friday session of 5:00 pm – 4:00 pm CT (6:00 pm – 5:00 pm ET), with the daily break falling between that close and the next session’s open. So crude is open through the Asia window, too.
Grains run on a different clock
Grains are where the assumption that everything keeps the same hours falls apart. CME Group states in its corn product overview that corn futures trade Sunday through Friday from 7:00 pm – 7:45 am CT (8:00 pm – 8:45 am ET), and Monday through Friday from 8:30 am – 1:20 pm CT (9:30 am – 2:20 pm ET). That overnight session opens an hour into the Asia window, closes before the U.S. cash open, and is followed by a separate daytime session with a gap between them.
Asia session hours are not one schedule across the whole futures complex. Check the published hours for the contract in front of you.
How the Asia session compares to the London and U.S. sessions
What separates the three windows is who’s participating; the market runs throughout. What changes from one window to the next is the mix of desks and what’s on the economic calendar.
The London handoff
The European open, which NinjaTrader puts at 3:00 am – 6:00 am ET, is where the Asia session hands off. European desks come in while Asian centers wind down, so participation broadens without the venue changing. If you’re trading from the U.S., you’ll probably review this stretch in the morning rather than sit through it.
The U.S. open
NinjaTrader marks the most active U.S. window at 8:30 am – 11:30 am ET and notes that economic data releases often occur at 8:30 am ET, so it carries scheduled catalysts the overnight session generally doesn’t.
None of that settles which window suits you. That’s a question about your strategy and your schedule, and it’s the one NinjaTrader’s guide to the best time of day to trade futures takes on directly.
How to chart and practice Asia session hours with NinjaTrader
NinjaTrader gives futures traders access to the full CME Globex session, including Asia session hours, across desktop, web, and mobile platforms. Getting that session to show up on a chart comes down to your settings, and that’s where a lot of traders trip up.
Extended trading hours vs. regular trading hours
NinjaTrader describes regular trading hours (RTH) as the daytime session matching U.S. cash market hours, and extended trading hours (ETH) as the overnight session, including premarket and after-hours. A chart built on RTH leaves the overnight window out; one built on ETH takes it in.
In NinjaTrader’s desktop platform, the setting that decides this is the Trading Hour Template applied to the data series. The end-of-day flag inside that template marks where one trading day ends and the next begins; whether your bars actually break at that point is the chart’s separate Break at EOD property.
An RTH chart won’t show you the Asia session at all. If the overnight range has gone missing, the Trading Hour Template is the first thing to check.
Practicing the overnight session
The Asia session runs at an awkward hour for most U.S. traders, which makes it a reasonable candidate for working through in a sim environment first. You can get familiar with how the session behaves and how your charts are configured without doing it half-asleep on a live account. NinjaTrader’s guide to building a premarket routine covers how the overnight range feeds into the morning.
Simulated trading is based on hypothetical results and does not reflect actual trading. Emotional and psychological factors of real money risk are not replicated. Use simulated trading to learn the platform and markets—not as an indicator of live performance.
Start tracking the Asia session with NinjaTrader
Knowing where the Asia session sits in the Globex day, and which contracts keep the same clock through it, is the groundwork for reading an overnight chart properly. The next step is having the Asia session in front of you.
Ready to get started? Open a NinjaTrader account today.
FAQs on Asia session futures hours
What time does the Asia session start for futures?
NinjaTrader puts the window at 7:00 pm – 3:00 am ET. It’s a convention, not an exchange session, so treat the boundaries as approximate: nothing on CME Globex opens at 7:00 pm ET, and the book has already been running since 6:00 pm ET.
Do U.S. futures trade during Asia hours?
Yes. Most U.S. futures markets are open nearly 24 hours a day, six days a week—from Sunday at 6:00 pm ET to Friday at 5:00 pm ET—with a one-hour daily maintenance break. The Asia session falls inside that continuous schedule.
Is the Asia session good for trading ES?
The E-mini S&P 500 is open and trading through the session, so it’s available to trade. Whether the session fits your approach is a different question, and it depends on your strategy, your risk tolerance, and what hours you can realistically work. NinjaTrader’s guide to the best time of day to trade futures addresses it.
Does the Asia session shift with daylight saving time?
No, not the ET window itself. CME Group publishes its trading hours in CT unless otherwise stated, and ET runs an hour ahead of CT year-round, so the ET figures in this article hold when U.S. clocks change. The exchange also notes that hours are subject to change, so check the published hours for your contract around any changeover.
When is the daily break in futures trading?
CME Group puts the daily maintenance period for equity index futures at 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CT (5:00 pm – 6:00 pm ET) in its equity index trading hours guidance. Other product groups differ: the exchange gives crude oil a one-hour break at 5:00 pm ET, while corn keeps a separate overnight and daytime session with a gap between them.
