Time zone of the time axis
The time-axis time zone decides how bar times are labelled and where the history window's midnight falls. It is set from the clock button on the chart toolbar, from Settings → General or from the chart's Trading Settings tab; all three write the same value.
Senzoukria · Documentation · Updated September 2026
Where to find it
- Where
- Chart toolbar clock button; Settings → General → Time axis timezone; chart ⚙ → Trading Settings → Timezone
- Default
- LCL (local, follows this machine)
- Choices
- LCL, UTC, NY, CHI, LON, PAR, TYO
- Hint
- "LCL follows this machine. NY / CHI for futures sessions, UTC for crypto."
What it does
Every timestamp on the time axis is rendered in the selected zone. The toolbar button shows a small clock icon and the current code; clicking it cycles through the list in order (LCL, UTC, NY, CHI, LON, PAR, TYO) and its tooltip reads "Time axis timezone: {zone} — click to switch". A persisted value the current version does not know falls back to LCL.
The same value drives the history window: "24 hours (today)" means today from midnight in this zone, whatever the operating system clock says. Midnight is derived from the zone's calendar date and re-computed across daylight-saving changes, so a 3-day window does not drift by an hour twice a year.
The setting is deliberately kept out of chart templates: a template captures the visual style, while the time zone is a session-level choice, like magnet mode.
Settings
| Zone | Default | What it maps to |
|---|---|---|
| LCL — Local (system) | Default | Follows this machine's clock; no IANA zone |
| UTC | — | Coordinated Universal Time; matches crypto daily candles |
| NY — New York (ET) | — | America/New_York; US cash session times |
| CHI — Chicago (CT) | — | America/Chicago; CME Globex session boundary at 17:00 |
| LON — London (GMT/BST) | — | Europe/London |
| PAR — Paris (CET/CEST) | — | Europe/Paris |
| TYO — Tokyo (JST) | — | Asia/Tokyo |
How to use it
For CME futures sessions, pick NY (ET) or CHI (CT) so the 09:30 open and 17:00 CT session boundary read at their usual clock times. For crypto, UTC matches the exchange's daily candle. LCL is right when you only compare the chart against your own clock.
Changing the zone repaints labels immediately; it does not re-download data. It can however shift the start of the history window when the new midnight differs from the old one.
Limits or pitfalls
- LCL has no IANA zone: it uses the browser's local date semantics, so a machine set to the wrong zone shows the wrong labels.
- The chart's Timezone select and the app Settings select are two doors to the same store value; there is no per-chart override.
- Session-based tools (session VWAP, session profiles, named sessions) have their own session definitions and do not change because the axis label zone changed.
Related pages
- Settings: data cache and history range
- Chart settings: Trading tab
- GEX on ES and NQ futures
- Session VWAP bands
This page in other languages
Frequently asked questions
- Which zone should I use for ES and NQ?
- NY (ET) or CHI (CT). CME Globex sessions are defined in Chicago time, and the cash open is 09:30 New York; the Settings hint suggests NY / CHI for futures and UTC for crypto.
- Does the zone change the data or only the labels?
- Labels, plus the position of midnight used by the history range. The bars themselves and the broker messages stay as the exchange sends them.
- Is daylight saving handled?
- Yes. All zones map to the exact offset at render time, and the history window's midnight is rebuilt from the zone's calendar date rather than by subtracting 24-hour blocks.