Pine Editor Tutorial #3 – Mastering Trading Sessions in Pine Script

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TradingView’s Pine Script is a powerful tool for traders looking to build custom indicators and strategies. In this third installment of the Pine Editor tutorial series, we dive into one of the most practical elements of strategy development: trading sessions. By learning how to define and highlight specific market sessions, you gain greater control over when your strategies execute—helping you align with high-volatility periods or avoid low-liquidity times.

Whether you're a beginner building your first script or an experienced coder refining your logic, understanding session management is essential for precision trading.

👉 Discover how to optimize your trading strategy with session-based logic

What Are Trading Sessions?

In financial markets, trading sessions refer to specific time windows during which certain exchanges or market centers are active. For example:

Markets behave differently depending on the session. Liquidity, volatility, and price movement patterns often shift between these periods. By isolating them in your Pine Script code, you can:

This tutorial builds on previous lessons where we plotted visual markers and highlighted specific days. Now, we’ll take it further by introducing dynamic session controls.

Setting Up Session Inputs

To make your script flexible and user-friendly, always start by defining inputs. This allows traders to toggle sessions on or off without modifying the code.

Here’s how to create a session input:

show_session = input.bool(true, title="Show Trading Session", group="Session Settings")
session_time = input.session("0930-1600", title="Session Time (EST)", group="Session Settings")

With input.bool, users can enable or disable the session display. The input.session function lets them customize the time range using a clean interface directly in the indicator settings.

Using a group parameter keeps related options organized—especially helpful as your script grows in complexity.

Highlighting the Active Session

Once inputs are set, the next step is visualizing the session on the chart. We use time() with session syntax to detect bars within the defined window.

in_session = not na(time("1", session_time))
bgcolor(show_session and in_session ? color.new(color.blue, 90) : na)

Let’s break this down:

This simple conditional coloring makes it easy to see exactly when your strategy should be active.

👉 Learn how professional traders time their entries using session analysis

Advanced Use: Multi-Session Support

Want to track multiple sessions? You can extend the script to support several time zones simultaneously.

Example: Highlight both London and New York overlaps

london_session = input.session("0300-1200", title="London Session", group="Multi-Session")
ny_session = input.session("0800-1700", title="New York Session", group="Multi-Session")

in_london = not na(time("1", london_session))
in_ny = not na(time("1", ny_session))

// Highlight overlap
in_both = in_london and in_ny

bgcolor(in_both ? color.new(color.purple, 85) : 
       in_london ? color.new(color.orange, 90) : 
       in_ny ? color.new(color.blue, 90) : na)

Now you can visually identify:

This technique is particularly useful for forex traders targeting the EUR/USD or GBP/USD pairs, which often exhibit strong moves during the London-New York overlap.

Integrating Sessions Into Strategies

Sessions aren’t just for visuals—they’re strategic tools.

When building a Pine Script strategy, you can restrict entry conditions using session filters:

if (strategy.position_size == 0)
    if (crossover(sma(close, 14), sma(close, 28)) and in_session)
        strategy.entry("Long", strategy.long)

By adding and in_session, you ensure trades only trigger during your preferred market hours—reducing noise and improving edge.

You can also use sessions to:

Core Keywords for SEO Optimization

To align with common search queries and improve visibility, the following keywords have been naturally integrated throughout this guide:

These terms reflect real user intent and help ensure the article ranks well for technical traders searching for actionable coding guidance.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Can I use multiple timeframes when defining sessions?
A: Yes. The time() function works on any chart timeframe. If you're on a 1-hour chart, it will still detect whether that hour falls within your defined session window.

Q: How do I adjust sessions for different time zones?
A: TradingView automatically uses the exchange’s timezone unless specified otherwise. Use time(timeframe, session, timezone) to override it. For example: time("1", "0930-1600", "America/New_York").

Q: Why doesn’t my session highlight appear consistently?
A: Ensure your chart’s symbol matches the correct exchange timezone. Also, check that “Use exchange timezone” is enabled in chart settings for accurate alignment.

Q: Can I schedule strategy exits based on session end times?
A: Absolutely. Use not in_session and in_session[1] to detect when a session just closed, then call strategy.close() or strategy.exit() accordingly.

Q: Is there a limit to how many sessions I can define?
A: No hard limit. However, too many visual layers may clutter the chart. Use transparency (color.new) and clear labeling to maintain readability.

👉 See how top traders automate session-aware strategies with advanced tools

Final Thoughts

Mastering session control in Pine Script elevates your ability to design intelligent, context-aware trading systems. From simple background highlights to complex multi-session logic, this feature adds precision and realism to both backtesting and live execution.

As shown in this tutorial—part of the growing Pine Editor series—small enhancements like session filtering can significantly improve strategy performance by aligning trades with optimal market conditions.

Remember: always test your scripts thoroughly across different symbols and timeframes. And while this script is open-source and free to use, never treat code as financial advice. Always verify logic independently and consider risk management as part of your overall approach.

With solid foundations in place, you're now ready to explore even more advanced Pine Script features—like custom alerts, dynamic inputs, and strategy optimization techniques.