- Futures prop firms run on Chicago time. The trading day starts at 5:00 PM CT and ends at 4:00 PM CT the next day; flat-by rules can be earlier.
- News rules differ by firm and by stage: several allow news in the evaluation but restrict it once you’re funded.
- Daylight-saving changes and quarterly rollover shift the times and contracts you trade. Both have caught out traders who did nothing else wrong.
Plenty of traders fail evaluations without breaking a risk rule at all. They hold a position past the firm’s cut-off, trade a release their funded account doesn’t allow, or keep trading an expiring contract after the volume has left. These are calendar failures, and they are completely avoidable.
The futures trading day, in your time zone
CME Globex equity index futures trade from 5:00 PM Chicago time on Sunday to 4:00 PM on Friday, with a daily maintenance break from 4:00 to 5:00 PM CT. Prop firms use the same session to define a “day”, so a trade placed at 6:00 PM CT on a Monday belongs to Tuesday’s session. Daily loss limits reset, and end-of-day drawdowns are calculated, at the session close, not at your local midnight.
Here are the times that matter, converted to your time zone for the coming week:
| Event | Chicago | Your time |
|---|---|---|
| Globex opens (Sunday) | 5:00 PM CT | 00:00 (next day) |
| London cash open | 3:00 AM CT | 10:00 |
| Main US data releases | 7:30 AM CT | 14:30 |
| US cash open | 8:30 AM CT | 15:30 |
| FOMC decision (meeting days) | 1:00 PM CT | 20:00 |
| US cash close | 3:00 PM CT | 22:00 |
| Topstep / E8 Futures flat-by | 3:10 PM CT | 22:10 |
| Session close, daily reset | 4:00 PM CT | 23:00 |
Flat-by rules: the cut-off before the close
Several firms require you to be flat well before the 4:00 PM CT session close, and a position still open at the cut-off is either closed for you or counts as a rule break:
- Topstep: all positions closed by 3:10 PM CT.
- E8 Futures: positions flattened at 3:10 PM CT, with no overnight or weekend holding.
- Most other futures firms require you to be flat before the daily close and over the weekend. Check your firm’s page for its exact time.
News: what moves, when, and what each firm allows
The releases that matter for index futures (Chicago time)
| Release | Usual time (CT) | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Non-farm payrolls (NFP) | 7:30 AM | Monthly, usually the first Friday |
| CPI inflation | 7:30 AM | Monthly |
| Weekly jobless claims | 7:30 AM | Every Thursday |
| US cash market open | 8:30 AM | Every weekday |
| FOMC rate decision / press conference | 1:00 PM / 1:30 PM | Eight meetings a year |
| Crude oil inventories (EIA) | 9:30 AM | Usually Wednesdays |
On these releases NQ can move 50–100+ points in seconds, and stop orders fill wherever the market is, not where you placed them. A $200 stop can become a $600 loss.
News rules by firm
| Firm | Evaluation | Funded |
|---|---|---|
| Topstep | Allowed, but full maximum-size entries into major scheduled news are prohibited; new positions in index and metal minis blocked from 5 minutes before to 5 after CPI | Same principles |
| Apex Trader Funding | Normal directional trading allowed; news-chasing, opposing orders and outcome gambling prohibited (no fixed window) | |
| Take Profit Trader | Allowed in the Test | PRO and PRO+: flat from 1 minute before to 1 minute after listed events |
| MyFundedFutures | Listed as unrestricted for tier-1 releases | Sim Funded: no trading 2 minutes either side of tier-1 events |
| Tradeify, Bulenox | No news-specific restriction; normal risk rules apply | |
| FTMO (forex) | Unrestricted in both challenge phases | Standard funded accounts: no opening or closing trades 2 minutes either side of major news on affected instruments |
Firms word these rules differently and change them often. If you plan to trade a release, get the rule in writing from support for your exact account stage.
Daylight saving: the two weeks a year that move everything
The US and Europe change their clocks on different dates, and many countries (South Africa, most of Asia and the Middle East) don’t change at all. Your local time for every event above shifts by an hour when Chicago changes:
| Change | United States | UK and Europe |
|---|---|---|
| Clocks go back (autumn 2026) | Sunday 1 Nov 2026 | Sunday 25 Oct 2026 |
| Clocks go forward (spring 2027) | Sunday 14 Mar 2027 | Sunday 28 Mar 2027 |
For example, the 8:30 AM CT cash open is 3:30 PM in Johannesburg until 1 November, then 4:30 PM. Between 25 October and 1 November, London is only four hours ahead of Chicago instead of five. If you trade a fixed window after work, check that your window still covers the open.
Contract rollover: trade the contract everyone else is trading
Equity index futures expire quarterly, in March (H), June (M), September (U) and December (Z), on the third Friday of the month. About eight days before expiry, volume moves to the next contract, so the front contract becomes thin and its spreads widen.
| Contract | Volume moves (roll day) | Expiry | Next contract |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 2026 (Z6) | Thu 10 Dec 2026 | Fri 18 Dec 2026 | March 2027 (H7) |
| March 2027 (H7) | Thu 11 Mar 2027 | Fri 19 Mar 2027 | June 2027 (M7) |
| June 2027 (M7) | Thu 10 Jun 2027 | Fri 18 Jun 2027 | September 2027 (U7) |
| September 2027 (U7) | Thu 9 Sep 2027 | Fri 17 Sep 2027 | December 2027 (Z7) |
What goes wrong for prop traders around the roll:
- Your chart and your order ticket disagree. A continuous chart may already show the new contract while your DOM is still on the old one, at a different price. Switch both on roll day.
- Thin liquidity on the old contract. Wider spreads mean more slippage on every stop.
- Firm handling varies. Some firms block or close expiring contracts near expiry. Check yours before roll week.
Crude oil (CL) expires monthly, around the 20th, with volume moving three to five trading days earlier. Gold (GC) is most active in the even months (February, April, June, August, October, December) and rolls about a week before first notice day.
Holidays and thin sessions
US holidays bring early closes and thin, erratic trade: Thanksgiving (Thursday 26 November 2026, with a shortened session the day after), Christmas and New Year. Moves on low volume are easy to get stopped out of, and some firms don’t count shortened days towards minimum trading days. Check CME’s holiday calendar and your firm’s announcements in the week before.
A weekly calendar routine
- Sunday: list this week’s tier-1 releases and their local times. Mark the ones your account stage restricts.
- Every day: alarm 10 minutes before your firm’s flat-by time.
- Release days: be flat, or at reduced size with a planned slippage allowance, from five minutes before to five minutes after.
- Roll week and clock-change weeks: check your contract month and your local trading window.