Prop Firm Trading Hours in Australia: Every Daily Reset in AEDT, AEST and AWST
The daily reset, the market sessions and the weekend close in Australian time for every part of the year, city by city, with the dates the clocks change.
Every prop firm runs on someone else’s clock. The daily loss limit resets at 5pm in New York, or midnight in Prague, or 5pm in Chicago, and from Australia those times move twice a year in one direction and twice a year in the other. A trade you think belongs to Tuesday can count towards Monday’s loss limit. This guide converts the common firm clocks, the main market sessions and the weekend cut off into Australian time for every part of the year.
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Why the reset time matters
A daily loss limit is measured from the start of the firm’s trading day. If you take a loss at 8:45am in Sydney and another at 9:15am, those can fall on different trading days at one firm and the same day at another. Get it wrong and two moderate losses can add up to a breach. The reset also decides when a new day’s limit is available after a bad session, and, at futures firms, the deadline for being flat.
The three clocks firms use
- 5pm New York. The traditional end of the forex day. TradePath Funding‘s daily loss limit resets at 5pm New York time.
- Midnight server time. Most MetaTrader servers run on GMT+2 in the northern winter and GMT+3 in the northern summer, chosen so that midnight on the server lines up with 5pm in New York. FundedNext resets at midnight server time on exactly that basis.
- Midnight Central European time. FTMO recalculates its maximum daily loss at 00:00 CE(S)T, Prague time, which sits an hour away from the other two for most of the year.
Futures firms follow the CME day instead. Topstep‘s trading day runs from 5pm to 3:10pm Chicago time, so there is a gap of almost two hours each day when you cannot trade.
Daily resets now: November 2026 to mid March 2027
From 1 November 2026, when the US left daylight saving, until 14 March 2027, the gap between New York and the Australian east coast is 16 hours.
| Firm clock | Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart (AEDT) | Brisbane (AEST) | Adelaide (ACDT) | Darwin (ACST) | Perth (AWST) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5pm New York, or midnight GMT+2 | 9:00am | 8:00am | 8:30am | 7:30am | 6:00am |
| Midnight Prague (FTMO) | 10:00am | 9:00am | 9:30am | 8:30am | 7:00am |
| Topstep day ends (3:10pm Chicago) | 8:10am | 7:10am | 7:40am | 6:40am | 5:10am |
| Topstep day starts (5pm Chicago) | 10:00am | 9:00am | 9:30am | 8:30am | 7:00am |
The switch weeks: 14 March to 4 April 2027
For three weeks in autumn the clocks are out of step. The US moves forward on 14 March, Europe on 28 March, and Australia’s south east moves back on 4 April. During these weeks, resets tied to New York come an hour earlier in Australia, while FTMO stays at 10:00am in Sydney until 28 March and then moves to 9:00am.
| Firm clock | Sydney | Brisbane | Adelaide | Perth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5pm New York | 8:00am | 7:00am | 7:30am | 5:00am |
| Midnight Prague, 14 to 27 March | 10:00am | 9:00am | 9:30am | 7:00am |
| Midnight Prague, 28 March to 3 April | 9:00am | 8:00am | 8:30am | 6:00am |
| Topstep day ends / starts | 7:10am / 9:00am | 6:10am / 8:00am | 6:40am / 8:30am | 4:10am / 6:00am |
Server time during these weeks depends on the firm: some move their servers with the US, others with Europe. Use the countdown on your dashboard, which FundedNext and many other firms show, rather than working it out.
The Australian winter: 4 April to 3 October 2027
With Australia on standard time and the northern hemisphere on summer time, New York is 14 hours behind Sydney and the resets land early in the morning.
| Firm clock | Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart, Brisbane (AEST) | Adelaide, Darwin (ACST) | Perth (AWST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5pm New York, or midnight GMT+3 | 7:00am | 6:30am | 5:00am |
| Midnight Prague (FTMO) | 8:00am | 7:30am | 6:00am |
| Topstep day ends / starts | 6:10am / 8:00am | 5:40am / 7:30am | 4:10am / 6:00am |
From 3 October 2027, when New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT, Tasmania and South Australia move forward again, the east coast returns to the switch week times above until the US and Europe change their clocks in late October and early November. Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia do not use daylight saving, so their times only move when the northern hemisphere’s do.
Market sessions in Australian time
| Event | Sydney, now (AEDT) | Perth, now | Sydney, winter (AEST) | Perth, winter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forex week opens (Sunday 5pm New York) | Monday 9:00am | Monday 6:00am | Monday 7:00am | Monday 5:00am |
| Tokyo opens | 11:00am | 8:00am | 10:00am | 8:00am |
| London opens | 7:00pm | 4:00pm | 5:00pm | 3:00pm |
| US data releases (8:30am New York) | 12:30am | 9:30pm | 10:30pm | 8:30pm |
| US stocks open (9:30am New York) | 1:30am | 10:30pm | 11:30pm | 9:30pm |
| Forex week closes (Friday 5pm New York) | Saturday 9:00am | Saturday 6:00am | Saturday 7:00am | Saturday 5:00am |
Perth traders have the friendliest hours: the US open and most US data come before midnight all year. On the east coast in summer, US data and the stock market open arrive after midnight, which is why many Sydney and Melbourne traders stick to the Asian and London sessions.
Weekends and holidays
Friday in New York is Saturday morning in Australia. If your firm makes you close positions before the weekend, the deadline is around 7am to 9am on Saturday on the east coast, not Friday night. Check our guide to weekend and overnight holding rules for each firm’s cut off.
Australian public holidays make no difference to a prop firm, but US holidays do. Thanksgiving on Thursday 26 November 2026 closes or shortens US sessions, and futures firms publish their own holiday schedules. Plan around them the week before.
News windows at Australian hours
Many firms restrict trading for a few minutes either side of high impact news. With US data at 12:30am in Sydney this summer, it is easy to leave a position open overnight and wake up to a news rule breach. Our news trading rules guide lists the exact window at 18 firms. FTMO’s Australian Swing account has no news restriction, which is one reason Australian swing traders choose it; see our guide for Australian traders for what FTMO’s Australian licence changes.
Five habits that prevent a time zone breach
- Write your reset time on a sticky note in your own city’s time, and change it on the dates above.
- Trust the dashboard countdown over your own maths when the clocks are changing.
- Stop trading 15 minutes before the reset so a trade cannot straddle two days by accident.
- Check the economic calendar each evening for releases that land while you sleep.
- Set an alarm for Saturday morning if your firm makes you flat for the weekend and you hold trades on Friday night.
Frequently Asked Questions
What time does the prop firm day reset in Sydney?
From November to mid March, firms that reset at 5pm New York time or midnight on a GMT+2 server reset at 9:00am in Sydney, and FTMO resets at 10:00am. In the Australian winter the same resets are at 7:00am and 8:00am.
What time does the prop firm day reset in Perth?
Perth does not use daylight saving. Resets at 5pm New York time are at 6:00am in Perth from November to mid March and 5:00am from mid March to early November. FTMO's midnight Prague reset is at 7:00am or 6:00am.
When do I have to close trades before the weekend from Australia?
The forex week closes at 5pm New York time on Friday, which is 9:00am Saturday in Sydney in summer and 7:00am in winter. A firm that makes you flat for the weekend usually wants positions closed before that.
Do Australian public holidays affect prop firm trading?
No. Firms follow US and European market hours, so US holidays such as Thanksgiving matter and Australian ones do not.
