Exchange time zone

The exchange time zone is the local clock in which a venue defines its session: Chicago time for CME futures, UTC by convention for most crypto exchanges. Session-based calculations should be anchored in that clock, while the time axis of a chart can be displayed in any zone the trader prefers.

Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026

Anchor versus display

Two different questions hide behind 'what time zone is my chart in'. The first is where session boundaries are computed: a CME session opens at 17:00 Chicago time whether the trader sits in Paris, Tokyo or New York, and a session delta or session VWAP must reset on that minute. The second is how timestamps are printed on the axis, which is purely a display preference.

Keeping the two separate avoids the classic error of resetting a session study at local midnight. The anchor belongs to the exchange; the axis belongs to the reader.

Daylight saving and the exchange clock

  • Chicago switches between CST and CDT, so the CME open moves by an hour in UTC twice a year while staying at 17:00 locally.
  • Europe and the US change on different dates, so for a few weeks each spring and autumn the gap between London and Chicago is one hour off its usual value.
  • Crypto venues that publish in UTC do not shift; a daily candle on such an exchange closes at 00:00 UTC regardless of the trader's location.
  • Offsets counted in minutes from the exchange session open survive the DST change because the change happens outside the session.

In Senzoukria

In the desktop application, Settings has a 'Timezone' choice for the time axis with the options Local (system), UTC, New York (ET), Chicago (CT), London (GMT/BST), Paris (CET/CEST) and Tokyo (JST); the hint reads 'NY / CHI for futures sessions, UTC for crypto'. All IANA zones map to the exact offset at render time, so the axis is DST-aware. The chart's clock tooltip lets you switch zones directly from the axis, and the heatmap has its own 'Time zone' setting.

None of these choices moves a session anchor. Session studies such as Session CVD and Time-of-Day Volume compute on the CME 17:00 Chicago open regardless of the display zone, and the Anchored VWAP 'Day (UTC)' and 'Week (Monday UTC)' anchors are explicitly labelled in UTC so the reference is unambiguous.

Common mistakes

  • Anchoring a daily profile at local midnight on a futures contract.
  • Comparing a daily crypto candle from a UTC exchange with one from a platform that closes the day on a local clock.
  • Assuming the time gap between your city and Chicago is constant across the year.
  • Reading a chart with the axis in Tokyo time and quoting the levels as if they were Chicago times.

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Frequently asked questions

Should I display futures charts in Chicago or New York time?
Either works for reading. Chicago is the exchange's own clock and matches the 17:00 open and 16:00 close; New York matches most published cash-market schedules and economic-release times. What matters is that session calculations stay anchored on the exchange clock, which the display choice does not change.
Why do my crypto daily candles not match another site?
Most crypto exchanges close the daily candle at 00:00 UTC, while some charting sites cut the day on a local or New York clock. A one-day candle built on different boundaries has a different open, high, low and close. Compare the day-boundary convention before comparing the candles.

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