# Time zones and broker time

> Why broker time isn't UTC, how Tickwire labels it, and how to get day boundaries right.

Source: https://tickwire.io/docs/time-zones/

MetaTrader servers keep their own clock, usually UTC+2 in winter and UTC+3 in summer ("New York
close" time), but not always. Tick, bar and deal times from the terminal are in that **broker-local**
time. Treating them as UTC shifts everything by two or three hours and puts daily limits on the wrong
day.

## The rules we follow

- Fields named `time` (or ending in `Time` without `broker`) are **UTC**, ISO-8601 with `Z`.
- Fields named `brokerTime` are broker-local, formatted `YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss.SSS`, with no zone
  suffix because they're not UTC.
- We never put a `Z` on broker time.

```json
{ "time": "2026-09-23T11:02:11.480Z", "brokerTime": "2026-09-23 14:02:11.480" }
```

## Finding a broker's offset

```bash
curl -s https://api.tickwire.io/users/current/accounts/acc_7Qx/server-time -H "auth-token: $TW_KEY"
```

```json
{ "time": "2026-09-23T11:02:13Z", "brokerTime": "2026-09-23 14:02:13.000", "brokerUtcOffsetSeconds": 10800 }
```

The offset is **measured**: broker tick time minus UTC, rounded to 30 minutes, and only while ticks
are fresh. The daylight-saving rule is worked out from the hour at which trading weeks open over
several years of hourly bars. Until we've measured it, `brokerUtcOffsetSeconds` is `null`; we don't
fill it in with a guess.

The [account snapshot](https://tickwire.io/docs/health/#account-snapshot) (`GET /users/current/accounts/{id}/snapshot`)
carries the same clock in its `server_time` section, with the offset stated explicitly as
`brokerUtcOffsetMinutes` (`null` when not yet measured, never assumed to be 0).

If auto-detection gets a broker wrong, set `brokerTimezone` and `brokerDSTSwitchTimezone` on a
[provisioning profile](https://tickwire.io/docs/broker-onboarding/).

## Day boundaries for risk rules

Prop firms usually reset daily loss limits at the broker's midnight, not UTC midnight. Use
`brokerTime` (or UTC plus the measured offset) to decide which trading day a deal belongs to. Our
[risk trackers](https://tickwire.io/docs/guides/prop-risk-tool/) do this for you.