Overnight Session
The overnight session is the ETH period between the US equity market close (4:00 PM ET) and the next day's RTH open (9:30 AM ET). It encompasses the Asia and London sessions and produces the key price levels: overnight high, low, and gap: that inform RTH trading decisions.
The overnight session refers to the Globex trading hours between the close of US Regular Trading Hours (4:00 PM ET) and the open of the next RTH session (9:30 AM ET). It encompasses the Asian and European trading sessions and runs approximately 17.5 hours.
Overnight session timeline (ET)
| Time (ET) | Event |
|---|---|
| 4:00 PM | RTH close, overnight session begins |
| 5:00–6:00 PM | CME daily maintenance break |
| 6:00 PM | Globex reopens |
| ~7:00 PM – 3:00 AM | Asia session active |
| ~3:00 AM – 9:30 AM | London session / European overlap |
| 9:30 AM | RTH open, overnight session ends |
Key overnight price levels
Experienced day traders mark these levels each morning before the open:
Overnight High (ONH): the highest price traded since the prior RTH close. Often acts as resistance in early RTH.
Overnight Low (ONL): the lowest price traded since the prior RTH close. Often acts as support in early RTH.
Overnight Range: the distance between ONH and ONL. A narrow overnight range often precedes a volatile RTH open. A wide range may indicate that the market has already resolved direction before the open.
The gap
If the overnight session pushes price significantly away from the prior RTH close, RTH opens with a gap. Gap behavior: whether price fills the gap, uses the close as support/resistance, or trends away: is a major setup category for many futures traders.
Overnight volume characteristics
Volume during the overnight session is substantially lower than RTH. Moves that look significant on a chart may have been driven by a small number of participants. This is why many traders treat overnight levels as reference points rather than confirmed breakouts: they are often tested and resolved during the first hour of RTH.