Reference
Kill Zone (ICT)
A kill zone is a specific window within the trading day when liquidity and volatility concentrate, and in which ICT-style traders expect the highest-quality setups to form — rather than treating all hours of the session as equally tradeable.
Last updated 2026-07-31
Key facts
- A kill zone is a time filter, not a setup or a signal.
- The four standard windows, in New York time, are London Open 02:00–05:00, New York AM 07:00–10:00, London Close 10:00–12:00, and New York PM 13:30–16:00.
- The Asian range, 20:00–00:00 New York, is usually treated as range formation rather than a kill zone.
- Kill zones are quoted in New York time by convention, which is why converting them correctly matters more than it appears to.
- The premise is that participation and therefore liquidity concentrate at session opens and overlaps, not that the clock itself causes moves.
- A kill zone narrows when you look for a setup; it does not tell you what the setup is or which direction to take it.
Why specific windows, and not others
The reasoning is participation. Volume and volatility are not spread evenly through the 24-hour session — they cluster around the times major financial centres open, and around the overlap when London and New York are both active. More participants means more resting orders, which means more of the liquidity that sweeps depend on.
So a kill zone is a claim about when the conditions a setup relies on are most likely present. It is not a claim that the hour itself produces the move, and treating a kill zone as a signal — taking a trade because the clock struck — misreads it entirely.
The standard windows
London Open (02:00–05:00 NY) — the first significant volatility of the day, frequently sweeping the range built overnight. New York AM (07:00–10:00 NY) — the highest-participation window, with both London and New York active and most US data releases landing inside it.
London Close (10:00–12:00 NY) — European desks squaring up, which often produces a retracement or reversal against the morning's move. New York PM (13:30–16:00 NY) — quieter, with its own repeatable behaviour into the close.
You can see all four live, converted to your own timezone, on the session and kill zone clock.
The timezone problem
Kill zones are quoted in New York time because that is the convention almost all ICT material uses. The failure happens at conversion, and it happens predictably twice a year: the US and Europe change their clocks on different dates, so for a couple of weeks each spring and autumn the usual offset shifts by an hour.
A trader working from a memorised offset arrives at the London open sixty minutes late during those windows. Converting from real timezone data rather than a remembered number removes the problem entirely.
What a kill zone does not do
It does not supply direction, and it does not validate a setup. A kill zone narrows when you look; the setup still has to satisfy everything it would need to at any other time — higher-timeframe context, a liquidity event, a defined invalidation.
Whether your own edge genuinely performs better inside a given window is also measurable rather than assumed. Tag every tested trade with the session it formed in, and after a large enough sample you will know whether your results are session-dependent or whether you inherited the belief without checking it.
Questions
What is a kill zone in ICT trading?
A specific window within the trading day when liquidity and volatility concentrate, and in which ICT traders expect the highest-quality setups. It is a time filter rather than a signal.
What are the ICT kill zone times?
In New York time: London Open 02:00–05:00, New York AM 07:00–10:00, London Close 10:00–12:00, and New York PM 13:30–16:00. The Asian range, 20:00–00:00, is usually treated as range formation rather than a kill zone.
Why are kill zones quoted in New York time?
By convention — almost all ICT material uses New York as the reference, which keeps everyone describing the same window regardless of where they live. Converting to local time is where errors occur, particularly around daylight saving changes.
Is a kill zone a trading signal?
No. It narrows when you look for a setup; it does not tell you what the setup is or which direction to take. A trade taken purely because a kill zone opened has no edge behind it.
Do kill zones actually work?
The premise — that participation and liquidity concentrate around session opens and overlaps — is a widely accepted market characteristic. Whether your specific edge performs better inside one is a separate question, and one you can measure by tagging tested trades with the session they formed in.