Live time conversion and hour-by-hour comparison
This page shows the live time conversion between Chicago and London. The hour-by-hour chart above makes it easy to find overlapping business hours for meetings or calls. Green highlights indicate standard business hours (9 AM – 5 PM) in each city.
Chicago and London are 6 hours apart (5 during mutual DST overlap), which is one hour better than the New York-London gap for Chicago's advantage. The practical overlap window runs from about 8 AM CT to 11 AM CT (2 PM to 5 PM London). Chicago's commodities markets have deep ties to London's financial markets, making this a heavily trafficked scheduling pair.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and London Metal Exchange (LME) are the two most important commodity exchanges in the world. CME's electronic Globex platform operates nearly 24 hours, but the core trading session and the highest-volume period aligns with the London-Chicago overlap. Agricultural futures in Chicago and industrial metals in London create a complementary trading dynamic across the Atlantic.
The ideal Chicago-London call window is 9-11 AM CT (3-5 PM GMT). Both sides are fully operational and alert. An 8 AM CT call catches London at 2 PM — post-lunch and productive. Avoid pushing past 12 PM CT (6 PM GMT) as London professionals will be ending their day. For breakfast meetings, 7 AM CT = 1 PM GMT, which works for both sides.
Direct flights from Chicago O'Hare to London Heathrow run 7-8 hours eastbound. Departing Chicago at 6 PM CT, you arrive in London around 8 AM GMT — ready for a full business day with minimal time wasted. The return flight leaves London around 10 AM GMT and arrives in Chicago at 1 PM CT, preserving most of the afternoon. This efficient travel schedule makes Chicago-London one of the most business-friendly transatlantic routes.