Research Library / Sessions

Sessions

EUREX Equity Index Session

The Eurex equity-index session is the trading-hours context for European equity index futures — the DAX, EURO STOXX 50 and SMI complexes. It tells a trader when each contract's phases run; it does not identify a trade.

Which markets this covers

Three Eurex index futures families share this session context. Each is a separate market, and each keeps its own hours within the day:

On the final trading day of an expiring contract, trading ends early — at 13:00 CET for the DAX future, 12:00 CET for the EURO STOXX 50 future and 09:00 CET for the SMI future.

Time zone

Eurex publishes these times in Central European Time, and that is the reference used throughout this library. The exchange's own pages and calendar are the authority: hours and holidays change during the year.

The model's session is narrower than the market's

A market being open is not the same as a model being active. Iron Ledger's models work in defined sessions — the Frankfurt session for Micro-DAX (FDXS), the European session for FESX, and the Zurich session for FSMI. Each is a narrower window than the exchange's full trading day, and a model does not trade every hour a contract is open.

Why session context matters

Knowing when a market's regular session runs helps a trader understand when a benchmark and its derivatives are most active. It does not indicate what will happen in the market, when to trade, or whether a model setup will qualify.

Holiday and maintenance caveats

Exchange holidays and maintenance windows alter normal schedules, and several contracts in this family have shortened trading days around holidays. Always confirm the current calendar and hours on the exchange's own source before planning around a session.

Sources and verification

Session and hours information on this page is based on current Eurex trading-hours and trading-calendar publications. Iron Ledger paraphrases those sources rather than reproducing them.