Kill Zones
When volume concentrates during the day
Time as a filter
Markets are not equally active throughout the day. Volume concentrates around session opens and around the hours when major financial centres overlap, and thins out considerably between them.
Kill zones are the specific windows where this activity clusters. The idea is not that setups only work during these hours, but that moves originating in them are more likely to have the participation needed to continue rather than stalling.
The main windows
Asian range
20:00 to 00:00 New York
Typically quiet with a narrow range. Often forms the high and low that later get swept.
London open
02:00 to 05:00 New York
Volume arrives as European desks open. Frequently sets the direction for the day.
New York AM
07:00 to 10:00 New York
The most active window, especially where London and New York overlap.
New York PM
13:30 to 16:00 New York
A second window, usually continuation or reversal of the morning move.
Times are given in New York hours and shift with daylight saving changes. The two highlighted windows are the ones most commonly traded.
Why the Asian range matters
The quietest period is often the most useful reference. A narrow overnight range creates a well-defined high and low with stop orders sitting on both sides, which frequently becomes the liquidity that gets swept once London arrives.
A common way this is applied: mark the overnight high and low, then watch which side gets taken first during the London window. A sweep of the low followed by a reversal upward is read as sell-side liquidity being cleared before a move higher.
Reading an Asian range
Overnight, EURUSD trades between 1.0855 and 1.0875, a quiet 20 pip range. Both edges now hold clusters of stop orders.
At 03:15 New York, price drops to 1.0848, taking out the range low, then closes back above 1.0860 within twenty minutes. That is sell-side liquidity taken without follow-through.
The bias for the session becomes bullish, and entries are looked for on a return toward 1.0860 rather than on chasing the drop.
What time filtering actually does
Its main practical effect is reducing how much you trade. Restricting yourself to two or three windows removes the low-volume hours where moves are more likely to be choppy and stops are more likely to be caught by noise.
It also makes a routine possible. Knowing you only trade between specific hours means the rest of the day is not spent watching charts, which removes a large share of the impulsive trades that come from boredom rather than from a setup.
Published times use New York hours and shift with daylight saving changes, which fall on different dates in different regions. Confirm the windows against your own charts and your own timezone.
Activity patterns also vary by instrument. Index futures, major currency pairs, and metals do not share the same active hours, so the windows worth using depend on what you trade.