Defining a trading day: server time, New York close and daily candles
Posted: Mon Nov 02, 2026 3:00 pm
Daily candles look different depending on when the day starts. Many brokers use a server time where the day ends at 5 pm in New York time, but some use other offsets, which can create small Sunday candles and change the shape of daily bars.
This matters for any strategy using daily highs, lows or closes. A breakout of yesterday's high may trigger on one broker but not another because the candles differ.
A method to check: compare daily charts from two brokers for the same pair over a month. Count how often the daily high, low or close differs by more than a few pips. If differences are frequent, a strategy should be tested on data matching the broker it will trade with.
Most platforms show server time, and a quick comparison with the New York close tells you which convention is used.
Some traders build custom daily candles in code to standardise across brokers.
Have you noticed differences in daily candles between brokers?
This matters for any strategy using daily highs, lows or closes. A breakout of yesterday's high may trigger on one broker but not another because the candles differ.
A method to check: compare daily charts from two brokers for the same pair over a month. Count how often the daily high, low or close differs by more than a few pips. If differences are frequent, a strategy should be tested on data matching the broker it will trade with.
Most platforms show server time, and a quick comparison with the New York close tells you which convention is used.
Some traders build custom daily candles in code to standardise across brokers.
Have you noticed differences in daily candles between brokers?