Spot gold has no exchange and no opening bell. It trades over the counter through a global network of banks and dealers, which is why it runs from the Sydney open on Sunday evening through to the New York close on Friday, handing off around the world as each centre starts its day.
What time does XAUUSD open?
For most brokers the week opens on Sunday evening UK time, around 22:00 or 23:00 depending on daylight saving, and closes on Friday evening at roughly the same hour. Between those two points it is open continuously apart from one short daily break.
Your broker's exact times are the ones that matter and they are published in the contract specification. Server clocks are frequently not UK time, and a one hour discrepancy is the single most common reason a session looks wrong.
The daily break
There is a short stop each day at the rollover, usually around 22:00 UK time, when the trading day is settled and swap is applied. Liquidity thins before it and spreads widen. It is one of several hours in the week where the market is technically open and practically not worth touching.
This is why the market is honestly described as 23/5 rather than 24/5. The hour exists and counting it would be claiming an hour nobody can usefully trade.
The London hours, and the two auctions
London is the centre of the physical gold market. The London over-the-counter market runs roughly 08:00 to 17:00 UK time, and within it the LBMA Gold Price benchmark is set twice a day, at 10:00 and 15:00 London time.
Those two auctions are the only scheduled, known events in a market that otherwise has no bell. Whether you trade around them or deliberately stay out of them, they are worth having in the diary rather than being surprised by.
Which session is best for gold?
The London and New York overlap carries the most participation of the day, so it is where the most movement usually happens. That is a statement about volume, not about your odds: more movement means tighter spreads and faster reversals in equal measure.
The Asian session tends to be quieter and to respect ranges more than break them. Trading it with an approach designed for the London open is a mismatch rather than patience, and it generally looks like a series of small losses inside a range.
Does gold trade at weekends?
No. Spot gold closes on Friday evening and reopens on Sunday evening. Prices you see quoted over a weekend are indicative rather than tradeable.
That gap matters more in gold than in many markets, because it is a metal that reacts to news, and news does not respect the trading week. A position held over a weekend can reopen at a price your stop never saw.
Daylight saving moves all of it, twice a year
The UK, the United States and Australia change their clocks on different dates. For a few weeks each spring and autumn the gap between London and New York is an hour different from usual, and your broker's server may or may not follow.
If a routine built on clock times feels inexplicably wrong for a fortnight in March or October, that is why.
Written for education, not as advice. Echelon is not authorised to give personal recommendations and nothing here takes account of your circumstances. Trading carries risk and most people who trade lose money. Read the risk disclosure.