Time & Sessions

Overview#

The Time & Sessions filter gives you detailed control over when your automated strategy can trade. Use it to avoid specific market conditions, such as low-liquidity periods or high-volatility events, and to match your strategy to the times you choose.

You can disable trading on certain days of the week, restrict activity to major market sessions, and automatically close open positions before a session ends to manage risk.

Settings#

The following settings let you define the exact trading schedule for your strategy.

Setting	Description	Options / Details
Timezone	Sets the timezone for all time-based calculations and session filters. This makes sure sessions apply at the correct time.	GMT-12 to GMT+12
Selected Sessions Mode	Determines how the strategy treats the market sessions you select below.	Include: Trading is only allowed during the selected market sessions.Exclude: Trading is disabled during the selected market sessions.
Weekdays Filter	Lets you disable trading on specific days of the week. Checking a box for a day prevents the strategy from trading on that day.	MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
Market Sessions Filter	Lets you select specific global market sessions for the filter. The GMT-6 timezone is used for these sessions.	New York: 06 - 14 GMT-6London: 01 - 09 GMT-6Tokyo: 17 - 01 GMT-6Sydney: 16 - 00 GMT-6
Custom Time Filter	When Custom Time is checked, the strategy uses your custom-defined time ranges.	Format: HHMM-HHMMMultiple Ranges: Separate with a semicolon (;)Example: 0830-1030;1400-1530
Enable Auto Close	When enabled, this closes any open position when the allowed trading time ends.	On/Off ToggleMinutes Before Session End: Set how many minutes before a session's close to exit a tradeRange: 0-1440

Best practices and usage#

• Align filters with your market: Adjust the session filters to match the market you are trading. For US stocks, you might Include only the New York session to focus on the most active hours.
• Avoid volatility: If your strategy performs poorly during volatile times like market opens or major news hours, use Exclude mode to disable trading during those periods.
• Weekend and holiday risk management: Use the weekday filter to disable trading on Fridays to avoid holding positions over the weekend. The Auto Close feature also helps close all trades before the end of the trading week.
• Prop firm compliance: Many proprietary trading firms have rules against holding trades over the weekend or during major holidays. Use the time filters and auto-close feature to stay compliant.