Server time in gold trading

Server time is the time zone in which a MetaTrader server stamps quotes, candles and trade history. It is shown in Market Watch and is not your computer’s local time. Many platforms set server time to GMT+2 in winter and GMT+3 in US summer time, so that the daily candle opens at 5 p.m. New York time and each week has five daily candles.

How it applies to gold trading

Everything time-based depends on it: where daily candles start and end, the previous day high and low, pivot points, session boxes drawn by indicators and the timing of expert advisors. A trader using a chart in a different time zone from the platform will see different daily highs and lows, and may misjudge the London or New York open by an hour or more.

Daylight saving makes this harder. The US and Europe change clocks on different dates, and server time usually follows the US schedule, so the gap between server time and London time shifts for a few weeks each spring and autumn.

Worked example

Example (hypothetical numbers): the server runs on GMT+3 in summer. The London open at 8:00 a.m. London (GMT+1) is 10:00 server time; the New York data release at 8:30 a.m. New York (GMT-4) is 15:30 server time. A trader in India (GMT+5:30) sees the same release at 6:00 p.m. local time. Mixing these up places session boxes in the wrong place.

A common mistake

Assuming the platform clock is your local time. Write down the offset between server, local and New York time and update it when clocks change.

See also: Daylight saving shift, Daily break, Trading hours, Midnight open.

Frequently asked questions