Session Anchors: Daily Open, London Open, NY Midnight

Level Types · ~7 min read · Updated 2026

Trading is a 24-hour business that nevertheless runs on local time. Three regional centres — Asia, London and New York — pass the auction baton across the day, and at each handover the order flow shape changes. Recognising these session anchors and knowing where price sits relative to each one is one of the most useful intraday context tools available.

This guide covers each major session anchor: the Daily Open (globex), London Open, NY Midnight, plus the Asia High/Low and Overnight High/Low ranges that develop within them.

The 24-Hour Cycle

Daily Open (Globex Open) — 18:00 ET

The first traded price after the daily globex maintenance halt. For ES/NQ futures this is 18:00 ET Sunday-Thursday; the price set here defines the new trading day. TradingPit uses this as the canonical "Daily Open" anchor.

Why it matters: every overnight news item, every regional headline, every cross-market move from Asia hits this open as the first chance to price it in. The first hour of post-globex trade often sets a directional tone that the next 23 hours respect or challenge.

Asia Open / Asia High & Low — 20:00 ET to 03:00 ET

Asian financial centres (Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore) trade their cash equity hours during this window. For US futures, it's typically a quieter, more rotational period — but with notable volatility around BoJ statements, China data releases, and any USD/JPY moves.

The Asia High and Asia Low define the boundaries of this session. They become reference levels for the rest of the trading day:

• Asia High often acts as resistance during London open, particularly if the session tested it heavily.
• Asia Low often acts as support, with breaks signalling continuation.

NY Midnight — 00:00 ET

The calendar-day rollover. Many algorithms (especially in the FX and ICT/Smart Money camps) treat NY Midnight as a discrete inflection point. Order books often reset around this time, and overnight liquidity providers refresh inventory.

NY Midnight is usually shown as a dash-dot vertical line on charts that follow this convention. It gets less attention in pure futures-profile theory but is a strong intraday anchor for currency-correlated trades.

London Open — 03:00 ET / 08:00 GMT

The largest single-region liquidity injection of the European day. London FX desks come live, European equities open shortly after, and US equity index futures see a sharp uptick in volume. Many of the day's range extensions begin in the first 90 minutes after London open.

For futures traders, the period 03:00-09:30 ET is the "London session" — a directional window that often resolves the overnight Asia rotation by either taking out the Asia High or the Asia Low.

RTH Open — 09:30 ET

The cash equity open. By far the largest volume injection of the day for index futures, since cash equity trading begins. RTH (Regular Trading Hours) Open is the anchor for RTH VWAP and is the moment Open Type is officially set in market profile theory.

Most traders treat 09:30 ET as the "real" start of the day. The first 60 minutes (Initial Balance) frequently defines the day's range; first 30 minutes (Opening Range) is critical for opening-range-breakout strategies.

Overnight High / Low (ONH, ONL)

The high and low of the entire overnight session, from globex open at 18:00 ET to RTH open at 09:30 ET. These are some of the most-watched levels at the cash open. Why?

• Stop-loss orders cluster just beyond ONH and ONL.
• Breakout strategies arm at these prices.
• Profile-theory traders watch for "RTH range expansion" — a clean break of ONH or ONL during the cash session is a continuation signal.

TradingPit renders ONH and ONL as long-dashed lines in the session colour token (teal) starting from the globex open.

RTH Close — 16:00 ET

The end of cash equity hours. PD Close and PD Settlement are derived from this window. After 16:00 ET, futures continue trading until 17:00 ET, then enter the one-hour maintenance halt before reopening at 18:00 ET on the next session.

How TradingPit Renders Session Anchors

All session anchors share the same colour token (teal #2DD4BF) to signal "session-relative" levels, distinct from prior-day (white), prior-week (gold), and prior-month (purple) levels. Solid lines mark openings (Daily Open, London Open); dash-dot marks NY Midnight; long-dashed marks the high/low extremes (ONH, ONL, Asia High, Asia Low).

Each anchor's line begins at the timestamp of its corresponding event and extends across the session. For example, the London Open level appears on the chart at 03:00 ET and remains visible until end-of-session.

Common Setups Around Session Anchors

1. Asia range breakout at London open. Mark Asia High and Asia Low. London open often makes the directional decision; trade with the breakout.
2. ONH/ONL retest at RTH open. First retest of overnight extreme during cash hours frequently rejects (~65% of sessions). Fade with tight stop.
3. NY Midnight inflection. Used by ICT/algo traders. Mark the line; watch for the first retest after 00:00 ET.
4. Daily Open as bias. Sustained trade above the 18:00 ET Daily Open biases bullish for the session; below biases bearish. Use as a top-level filter.