Gold's busiest hours in Nairobi time
We measured the median range (high minus low) of every one-hour gold bar from June 2024 to November 2026, Monday to Friday: about 13,000 hours of CME gold futures prices. US market hours are fixed in New York time, and Kenya does not change its clocks (East Africa Time, UTC+3, all year). So the same hour falls one hour later in Nairobi when New York leaves daylight saving time on the first Sunday of November. New York left it on 1 November 2026, so the right-hand column applies now, until the second Sunday of March 2027.
A bigger range means bigger moves in both directions. It is a measure of activity, not of which way the price will go.
| New York time | Nairobi, Mar–Nov (US daylight time) | Nairobi, rest of year | Median hourly range | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03:00 | 10:00 | 11:00 | 0.33% | Roughly the London open |
| 08:00 | 15:00 | 16:00 | 0.48% | US data at 08:30 (jobs, inflation) |
| 09:00 | 16:00 | 17:00 | 0.56% | Wall Street opens at 09:30: busiest hour |
| 10:00 | 17:00 | 18:00 | 0.53% | US session, London still open |
| 11:00 | 18:00 | 19:00 | 0.41% | London afternoon, activity starts to fade |
| 16:00 | 23:00 | 00:00 | 0.18% | Quietest regular hour |
| 17:00 | 00:00 | 01:00 | closed | Daily pause of the CME gold market |
| 20:00 | 03:00 | 04:00 | 0.34% | Asian session gets going |
| 21:00 | 04:00 | 05:00 | 0.39% | Tokyo and Sydney active |
How to use this, and what not to read into it
- If you can only watch the market after work, the late afternoon and early evening in Nairobi is when gold usually moves most, so it is also when stop-losses are most likely to be hit.
- Around US releases at 08:30 New York time (15:30 or 16:30 in Nairobi), spreads can widen and prices can jump past your stop. Check the economic calendar on our Kenya guide for the day.
- The hours when gold is quietest, late at night in Nairobi, are not safe hours: prices can still gap on unexpected news.
- This is a description of past activity, not a trading signal. Our own strategies use their own rules, which we do not publish.
Check the hours for today
The live clock on our Kenya guide shows which sessions are open right now in Nairobi time and colours each hour by how much gold, Nasdaq 100, Dow Jones and S&P 500 usually move. If you trade through a broker, check first that the company is on the CMA register, as the guide explains. The underlying data is published as an open file: hourly-volatility.json. For how we test ideas, see our method.