MidasGold (XAUUSD) activity by hour of day
In the 12 months to 26 October 2026, gold's widest hour of the day was 13:00–14:00 UTC, with a typical (median) range of $27.00; every hour of the 13:00–16:00 UTC block, when US data comes out and New York opens, ran at least $23.43, while the quietest full hour, 04:00–05:00 UTC, ran $11.59. These are past ranges, not a forecast or a direction.
Reviewed
Hour of the day
The data is counted in fixed UTC hours. When the US changes its clocks, the hours driven by US events (data releases, the New York open) move by one hour: compare the two settings of the US clock above.
Sessions are conventional local business hours (Sydney 07:00–16:00, Tokyo 09:00–18:00, London 08:00–17:00, New York 08:00–17:00) for the date shown above. The daily break is 17:00–18:00 New York time. Shaded columns: the break (hatched) and the Midas window (gold).
A live clock of the sessions and the weekly schedule of gold is on the Gold trading hours page.
Source: XAUUSD bid prices from one Swiss bank / ECN price feed, not a retail MT5 broker; bid only, so the spread is not included.
How it is calculated
All numbers come from hour-by-hour statistics of XAUUSD bid prices. An hour is counted only when it is complete: enough quote updates and no long silence. Weekends, holiday gaps and the daily break are not counted.
range = high − lowThe highest minus the lowest bid price inside the hour, in dollars per ounce. A bar shows the median of this value over all hours at that time of day (typical) or its 90th percentile (busy hour).move = |close − open|The distance between the first and the last bid price of the hour, whichever direction, averaged over the hours.up share = hours with close > open ÷ all hoursStays close to 50 % in every hour: it is not a direction signal.shown hour = UTC hour + offsetThe offset is that of your zone on the date shown under the chart, or the fixed server offset you choose. A zone with a half-hour offset shows hours as 13:30.
The statistics describe the past. Dollar ranges grow with the gold price, so compare periods with care.
How to read the hour profile
Each bar is one hour of the day, counted over all complete hours of the chosen period and weekday. Its height is the chosen metric for that hour, for example the typical high-to-low range of the quote in dollars per ounce.
The typical range is a middle value, so one violent day does not decide a bar; the busy-hour range shows how wide one hour in ten was. Both grow with the gold price, which is why a short period describes the current market better than a long one.
Hours are shown in your time zone or in broker server time. The data itself is counted in fixed UTC hours, so when the US changes its clocks, US-driven hours move by one hour; the switch of the US clock shows the two cases apart. The sessions, the daily break and the Midas window are drawn under the bars for the same zone.
This describes the past and is not a forecast: the share of up hours stays near 50 % in every hour, so a busy hour says nothing about direction. The Gold trading hours page has the live session clock.
The hour profile and the 2026 clock change
Updated 25 October 2026. The bars are counted in UTC hours, so the data itself does not move when clocks change. The events do: the EU and the UK moved to winter time on 25 October, so London now opens at 08:00 UTC; the US moves on 1 November 2026, and everything tied to New York, the daily gold break, the New York open and the 08:30 US data, comes one hour later in UTC: the break is 22:00–23:00 UTC and the data at 13:30 UTC. The table by date and the holiday pauses are on the gold trading hours page.
Frequently asked questions
When is gold most active during the day?
In this data the widest hours are usually those around the New York open and the US data releases, 12:00–15:00 UTC, with the peak at 13:00 UTC in US summer time and about an hour later in winter. The hour of the Asian open, around 01:00 UTC, is busy too. The quietest hours sit around the daily break and near 04:00 UTC. Choose a period and a weekday above to see the bars in your zone. It is a usual pattern, not a rule: any hour can be quiet or fast.
Why is the hour of the Asian open busy?
Around 01:00 UTC the trading day starts in mainland China and Hong Kong, and the day session of the Shanghai Gold Exchange opens at 09:00 local time. By typical range this hour is among the three widest in every period shown here, which fits more orders arriving then. The data shows the pattern, not the cause, and the clock time in your zone is different: read the bar labels for your zone.
Why are the hours around the daily break quiet?
Gold futures pause from 17:00 to 18:00 New York time, which is 21:00–22:00 UTC in US summer time and 22:00–23:00 UTC in winter. Just before the break few participants are left, and right after the reopening the order book is still thin, so ranges are narrow. Because the break moves between two UTC hours with the US clock, the bars at 21:00 and 22:00 UTC rest on about half as many hours as the others, and in the 3- and 6-month periods (all in summer time) the 21:00 UTC bar is empty.
Does the hour profile predict the direction of gold?
No. It describes how wide price moved in past hours, not which way. The share of up hours stays close to 50 % in every hour, so the profile has no direction signal. A wide hour can move against an open position as easily as with it, and past statistics may not repeat.
How does the hour profile relate to a grid like Midas?
A grid adds orders as price moves away from the first one. In hours when gold usually moves wider, price covers more distance in the same time, so a basket can reach its deeper orders sooner; in quiet hours it tends to go slower. The profile only describes this and does not predict a move. Midas starts new baskets only inside the window drawn on the chart (06:00–22:00 server time); Protection and Filters in Midas describes the other safeguards, and the deposit calculator shows how deep a balance can go.
Does the hour profile shift when the clocks change to winter time?
The bars do not: they are counted in UTC hours. But from 1 November 2026 the US is on winter time, and the busy hours tied to New York (the open, the 08:30 data, the daily break) come one hour later in UTC: the gold break is 22:00–23:00 UTC instead of 21:00–22:00. The London open moved one hour later already on 25 October. The winter season filter on this page shows the profile of the winter months.
About this calculator
How wide gold usually moves in each hour: 24 bars in your time zone or in broker server time, with the sessions, the daily break and the Midas window on the same chart. Real XAUUSD quotes, counted hour by hour.
Formulas and worked example
In short: how is the gold hour profile counted?
Each bar is the median high-minus-low range of XAUUSD in that hour of the day over all complete hours of the chosen period and weekday, in dollars per ounce. It describes how wide past hours were, not which way price went, and it is not a forecast.
range = high − low; bar = median of the rangesThe busy-hour view takes the 90th percentile instead of the median; the average move is the mean of |close − open|.shown hour = UTC hour + offsetThe data is counted in fixed UTC hours; your zone or the server offset only moves the labels.
Worked example: one hour over five days
Made-up numbers to show the arithmetic: five days of the 13:00–14:00 UTC hour with ranges of $4, $9, $5, $6 and $3, and open-to-close moves of +$2, −$5, +$1, −$3 and +$1.
| Typical range (median of the sorted ranges) | 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 → $5 |
| Average move | (2 + 5 + 1 + 3 + 1) ÷ 5 = $2.40 |
| Share of up hours, % | 3 ÷ 5 × 100 = 60 |
| Bar label on a UTC+3 server | 13:00 + 3 h = 16:00–17:00 |
Where a UTC hour appears in other zones
A bar keeps its UTC hour and only its label moves with the zone: the 13:00 UTC bar is 16:00 on a UTC+3 server and 09:00 in New York in summer.
| UTC | Server UTC+2 | Server UTC+3 | New York, summer | New York, winter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01:00–02:00 | 03:00–04:00 | 04:00–05:00 | 21:00–22:00 | 20:00–21:00 |
| 07:00–08:00 | 09:00–10:00 | 10:00–11:00 | 03:00–04:00 | 02:00–03:00 |
| 13:00–14:00 | 15:00–16:00 | 16:00–17:00 | 09:00–10:00 | 08:00–09:00 |
| 21:00–22:00 | 23:00–00:00 | 00:00–01:00 | 17:00–18:00 | 16:00–17:00 |
New York labels of the 01:00 UTC bar fall on the previous evening, and on a UTC+3 server the 21:00 UTC bar starts at midnight. The 21:00 UTC hour is the daily gold break in US summer time.
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