Trading session
A trading session is the defined time window over which a market's activity is grouped for analysis: for CME equity index futures it runs from the Globex open at 17:00 Chicago time to the next day's close, and regular US cash hours form a sub-window inside it. The session boundary decides where session-based indicators reset and which trades a daily profile includes.
Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026
Session definitions
The word session covers several windows and the difference changes the numbers. The full Globex session for ES or NQ starts on the previous evening at 17:00 CT, includes the overnight trade and ends the next afternoon before the maintenance break. Regular trading hours are the part that overlaps the US cash equity market. Some traders also split the overnight into Asian and European portions, or use the settlement time as a boundary.
- Full session: from the Globex open, including overnight.
- Regular hours: the US cash window inside the full session.
- Overnight: from the Globex open to the cash open, the source of the overnight high and low.
Why the boundary matters
Session-based tools restart at the session open. A cumulative delta that resets at 17:00 CT tells a different story from one reset at midnight or at the cash open, and a volume profile built on regular hours has a different point of control from one built on the full session. None of them is wrong, but two charts using two definitions will disagree, and comparing them without stating the definition produces false conclusions. The same applies to daily volume totals quoted by different sources.
In Senzoukria
The "Session Open" indicator draws the opening price of the first bar of each session, anchored at 17:00 CT, across the whole session. "Session CVD" sums the bar delta and resets at every CME session open, including within multi-session history, never at the start of the chart or at midnight. The chart settings include a "POC session" option, the workspace keeps a "Session history", and the Replay screen lists recorded days under "Session to replay". The settings timezone hint, "NY / CHI for futures sessions, UTC for crypto", states the reference used for each market.
Common mistakes
- Comparing a full-session profile with a regular-hours profile as if they measured the same day.
- Resetting session delta at local midnight on a market whose day starts the previous evening.
- Applying US futures session boundaries to crypto pairs, which trade continuously and are referenced in UTC.
- Reading a volume total from a source that uses another session definition and concluding the chart is wrong.
Related
- NQ and MNQ order flow settings
- Session Open indicator
- Session CVD indicator
- Overnight high and low indicator
- CME Globex
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Frequently asked questions
- When does the futures trading session start?
- For CME equity index futures the session opens at 17:00 Chicago time on the previous calendar evening, after the daily maintenance break. That is the anchor used by session indicators such as the session open and the session cumulative delta. Regular US cash hours begin later, inside that session.
- Should I use the full session or regular hours for my volume profile?
- Both are legitimate, and they answer different questions: the full session includes the overnight auction, regular hours isolate the period when cash equities trade. Pick one, state it, and keep it constant across the charts you compare. Switching definitions mid-analysis moves the point of control and the value area without any change in the market.
- Does the session concept apply to crypto?
- Crypto pairs trade continuously with no exchange-defined daily session, so any session boundary is a convention, usually a UTC day. Indicators anchored to the CME session open do not carry over. In the application, crypto is charted for analysis with UTC as the reference.