Chicago operates on Central Standard Time (CST, UTC-6) during winter and Central Daylight Time (CDT, UTC-5) from mid-March to early November. The Central timezone covers a broad swath of the United States, including Dallas, Houston, Minneapolis, and much of the Midwest.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group) is the world's largest derivatives exchange, trading futures and options across interest rates, equity indices, foreign exchange, energy, and agricultural commodities. Electronic trading on Globex runs nearly 24 hours, but floor trading aligns with Central time.
Chicago is 1 hour behind New York, 6 hours behind London (GMT), and 14 hours behind Singapore. For teams spanning US time zones, Chicago's central position makes it a natural meeting-time anchor between East and West Coast colleagues.
Flying to Singapore? Book your limousine service →