Need to know when the US stock market is open in 2026? The core answer is simple: NYSE and Nasdaq regular trading runs from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern Time on normal trading weekdays. The exchanges close for the 2026 holidays listed below, with scheduled 1:00 PM ET early closes on November 27 and December 24.

This page owns the regular-session clock, 2026 exchange holiday calendar, scheduled early closes, and time-zone conversion. For order handling, liquidity, and broker-specific access before 9:30 AM or after 4:00 PM, use the Pre-Market and After-Hours Trading Guide. For the annual number of open sessions, use the 2026 trading-days guide.

Last verified: September 23, 2026, against current NYSE, Nasdaq, and SEC materials.

Below you'll find the 2026 schedule, exchange-hours boundaries, time-zone conversions, and a concise practice section for learning session timing without turning this calendar page into a second extended-hours trading guide.

Quick Answer: 2026 US Stock Market Hours

Session	Time (Eastern)	Who Participates
Pre-market / early trading	As early as 4:00 AM – 9:30 AM	Active traders and institutions reacting to overnight news (start time depends on exchange venue and broker)
Regular	9:30 AM – 4:00 PM	All market participants
After-hours / late trading	4:00 PM – 8:00 PM	Traders reacting to earnings and post-close news

The market is closed on weekends and on the holidays listed below. Extended-hours windows are not identical at every venue — Nasdaq publishes a 4:00 AM–9:30 AM pre-market and 4:00 PM–8:00 PM after-hours, while NYSE's listed venues and your broker may open or close those sessions at different times.

2026 US Stock Market Holidays

Both NYSE and Nasdaq close on these dates in 2026. The table below is based on official exchange calendars published by NYSE and Nasdaq, with cross-referencing from Fidelity's 2026 holiday calendar.

Holiday	2026 Date	Day of Week	NYSE	Nasdaq
New Year's Day	January 1	Thursday	Closed	Closed
Martin Luther King Jr. Day	January 19	Monday	Closed	Closed
Presidents' Day	February 16	Monday	Closed	Closed
Good Friday	April 3	Friday	Closed	Closed
Memorial Day	May 25	Monday	Closed	Closed
Juneteenth	June 19	Friday	Closed	Closed
Independence Day (observed)	July 3	Friday	Closed	Closed
Labor Day	September 7	Monday	Closed	Closed
Thanksgiving Day	November 26	Thursday	Closed	Closed
Christmas Day	December 25	Friday	Closed	Closed

Note on Independence Day: July 4, 2026 falls on a Saturday, so the market closes on Friday, July 3 in observance.

2026 Early Market Closures

On two days in 2026, the market shuts down early at 1:00 PM ET instead of the usual 4:00 PM:

Date	Day of Week	Closure Time	Reason
November 27	Friday	1:00 PM ET	Day after Thanksgiving
December 24	Thursday	1:00 PM ET	Christmas Eve

These early closes apply to both NYSE and Nasdaq. Pre-market and after-hours sessions may also have limited availability — check with your broker. Eligible options can have a slightly different cutoff (NYSE lists a 1:15 PM ET early close for options), so confirm exact times with your exchange and broker. If you are trading the Christmas/New Year period rather than just checking the clock, use the holiday trading and Santa Claus rally guide for the 2026 seasonal window, liquidity questions, and testing workflow.

2026 Update: Nasdaq 23/5 Is Approved but Not Yet Live

As of September 23, 2026, the standard NYSE and Nasdaq regular session remains 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET.

The important 2026 change is regulatory status. The SEC approved Nasdaq's rule change on April 10, 2026 to extend the exchange to 23 hours a day, five days a week. Nasdaq now says it plans to introduce a 9:00 PM–4:00 AM ET overnight session on December 6, 2026, with a one-hour daily pause before the overnight session.

That planned overnight session is not part of the current regular-session clock. NYSE Arca separately says its extended-hours expansion has received SEC approval and is being prepared for a targeted 2026 launch, but venue schedules and broker access should be checked before relying on an overnight window.

For this page, the stable owner remains the regular exchange schedule and calendar. Detailed extended-hours execution mechanics belong in the dedicated pre-market and after-hours guide.

NYSE vs Nasdaq Trading Hours in 2026

For the vast majority of retail traders, NYSE and Nasdaq share the same schedule:

Regular hours: 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET
Holidays: Identical closure dates (see table above)
Early closes: Same dates and times

The differences that matter show up in extended hours. Not every broker offers the same pre-market or after-hours window on each exchange. Some brokers may start pre-market at 7:00 AM instead of 4:00 AM, or cut off after-hours at 6:00 PM instead of 8:00 PM. If you trade specific NYSE-listed or Nasdaq-listed stocks outside regular hours, check your broker's exact session times.

Pre-Market vs After-Hours Trading: What to Know

Extended-hours trading lets you react to earnings reports, economic data, and global events outside the 9:30–4:00 window. But the trade-offs are real.

Pre-market (4:00 AM – 9:30 AM ET):

Companies often release earnings before the open
Major economic reports (jobs data, CPI) drop at 8:30 AM ET
Volume is a fraction of regular-session levels
Bid-ask spreads can be materially wider than during the regular session
Price gaps from the previous close are common

After-hours (4:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET):

Earnings announcements for many large companies hit right after 4:00 PM
Sudden moves on much lower volume
Prices can swing dramatically on relatively small orders
After-hours prices don't always carry through to the next morning's open

A regular-session gap compares the official close with the next regular-session opening price. It does not necessarily mean no transactions occurred in extended hours, and the opening auction can establish a price different from the last pre-market trade. The price-gap reading and measurement guide explains how to separate close-to-open gaps, full-range gaps, data artifacts, and later gap fills.

For a deeper look at how to navigate these sessions, see our Pre-Market and After-Hours Trading Guide.

US Stock Market Hours by Time Zone (2026)

Times shift depending on whether the US is on Standard Time or Daylight Time. In 2026, the switch happens on March 8 (spring forward) and November 1 (fall back).

During US Eastern Standard Time (November – early March)

City	Market Open	Market Close
New York	9:30 AM	4:00 PM
Los Angeles	6:30 AM	1:00 PM
Chicago	8:30 AM	3:00 PM
London	2:30 PM	9:00 PM
Frankfurt	3:30 PM	10:00 PM
Hong Kong	10:30 PM	5:00 AM +1
Tokyo	11:30 PM	6:00 AM +1
Sydney	1:30 AM +1	8:00 AM +1

During US Eastern Daylight Time (March – October)

City	Market Open	Market Close
New York	9:30 AM	4:00 PM
Los Angeles	6:30 AM	1:00 PM
Chicago	8:30 AM	3:00 PM
London	2:30 PM	9:00 PM
Frankfurt	3:30 PM	10:00 PM
Hong Kong	9:30 PM	4:00 AM +1
Tokyo	10:30 PM	5:00 AM +1
Sydney	11:30 PM	6:00 AM +1

Notice the Asia-Pacific and Sydney times shift by one hour. This happens because the US changes its clocks while Japan, Hong Kong, and (in opposite direction) Australia have their own DST schedules.

Because the US, UK, Europe, and Australia switch daylight saving time on different dates, these tables are accurate for the main EST/EDT periods but may differ by one hour during DST transition weeks. Always confirm with your broker or the official NYSE calendar during March, October, and November.

Important Intraday Sessions

Within the regular 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM session, three periods behave very differently. Understanding them can change how you approach the market.

The Open (9:30 AM – 10:30 AM ET)

The first hour is where a disproportionate amount of volume and volatility concentrates. Overnight orders execute, gaps fill or extend, and day traders are most active. If you're short on time and can only trade one part of the day, this is the one most people focus on.

Midday Lull (11:30 AM – 2:00 PM ET)

Volume typically drops to its lowest levels between late morning and early afternoon. Price action tends to get choppy and directionless. Many experienced traders use this time to step away from the screen rather than force trades. If you're a beginner, this is a good period to observe rather than participate.

Power Hour (3:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET)

The final hour sees a spike in activity as institutional players position for the close. Volume increases, trends often accelerate, and day traders scramble to exit positions before the bell. This can produce strong directional moves — sometimes reversing the trend set during the morning session.

For a structured approach to preparing before the market opens, check out our Pre-Market Routine Mastery guide.

Best Times of Day for Beginners to Practice Trading

If you're still learning how to read charts and recognize patterns, the good news is you don't have to trade live to build experience.

The most productive approach is to focus on one session at a time, building up gradually:

Session	Best for beginners?	What to practice	Risk level
Pre-market (4:00 – 9:30 AM)	No — observe first	Gaps, news reaction, pre-market highs/lows	High
Opening hour (9:30 – 10:30 AM)	Yes — start here	Breakouts, reversals, gap fills	Medium-high
Midday (11:30 AM – 2:00 PM)	Mostly review	Avoiding chop, journaling, replay review	Low
Power hour (3:00 – 4:00 PM)	After learning the open	Trend continuation, late reversals, closing pressure	Medium-high
After-hours (4:00 – 8:00 PM)	No — observe first	Earnings reactions, low-liquidity moves	High

If you want to rehearse the open, power hour, pre-market, or after-hours behavior, use a replay tool that provides the intraday stock interval and session data required by that exercise.

ChartMini's current stock replay is daily-bar based, so it should not be used to claim that a 9:30 AM opening range or a specific extended-hours stock session can be reproduced. Use ChartMini for the historical intervals it actually provides, and use an intraday-stock data source when the rule depends on time-of-day behavior.

If you want a structured starting point, see our Paper Trading: Complete Beginner's Guide and our comparison of the Best Free Trading Simulators in 2026.

Can I Practice Trading When the US Market Is Closed?

Yes — and for most beginners, practicing outside live hours is the smarter way to learn. The market is only open about 6.5 hours a day, five days a week, and closed entirely on weekends and the 10 holidays above. That leaves the majority of the week available for risk-free practice.

There are three common ways to practice when the market is closed:

Method	What it does	Best for
Chart replay	Replays real historical candles bar-by-bar so you can practice a past session on demand	Pattern recognition, session timing, price-action reading
Paper trading	Simulated orders on live data during market hours	Order mechanics, position sizing in real time
Backtesting	Tests a fixed strategy across historical data automatically	Validating rules across many days at once

Chart replay does not require the live market to be open, but the exercise is only valid when the historical dataset contains the interval and session being studied. An intraday stock replay tool can be used to rehearse the 9:30 AM open or an after-hours move. ChartMini's current stock replay uses daily bars, so those intraday session drills require another data source.

To go deeper on each method, see:

A note on realism: replay and paper trading build skill and familiarity, not guaranteed results. Simulated fills don't capture real-world slippage, emotions, or liquidity — especially in pre-market and after-hours sessions, where spreads are wide and a few orders can move price sharply. Treat practice as rehearsal, not proof that a strategy will be profitable with real money.

Is the US Stock Market Open Today?

Here's how to check on any given day:

Weekend? Closed. Always.
A listed holiday? Closed. Check the 2026 holiday table above.
November 27 or December 24, 2026? Early close at 1:00 PM ET.
Any other weekday? The regular NYSE and Nasdaq session is open 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET.

The fastest regular-session check is the exchange calendar. Extended-hours access is separate and varies by venue and broker, so do not treat a generic 4:00 AM–8:00 PM window as universal.

FAQ

What time does the US stock market open in 2026?

9:30 AM Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, on all days that aren't market holidays.

What time does the US stock market close in 2026?

4:00 PM Eastern Time on regular trading days. On early closure days (November 27 and December 24, 2026), the market closes at 1:00 PM ET.

Is the stock market open on weekends?

No. NYSE and Nasdaq are closed on Saturdays and Sundays. No regular stock trading occurs on weekends.

What are the 2026 stock market holidays?

The US stock market is closed on 10 days in 2026: January 1, January 19, February 16, April 3, May 25, June 19, July 3, September 7, November 26, and December 25. See the full table above for details.

Is the stock market open on Good Friday 2026?

No. The market is closed on Good Friday, April 3, 2026.

Is the stock market open on Juneteenth 2026?

No. The market is closed on June 19, 2026, in observance of Juneteenth National Independence Day.

Does the stock market close early on Christmas Eve 2026?

Yes. On December 24, 2026, both NYSE and Nasdaq close at 1:00 PM ET.

Can I trade before 9:30 AM ET?

Yes, through pre-market sessions that start as early as 4:00 AM ET. Not all brokers offer the full 4:00 AM start — some begin at 7:00 AM or 8:00 AM. Liquidity is lower and spreads are wider during pre-market.

Can I trade after 4:00 PM ET?

Yes, through after-hours sessions that run until 8:00 PM ET at most brokers. Expect lower liquidity, wider spreads, and more volatile price action compared to regular hours.

Are pre-market and after-hours trading risky?

Extended-hours trading carries higher risk due to lower liquidity, wider bid-ask spreads, and more volatile price moves. Prices during these sessions may not carry through to the next regular session. Beginners should generally focus on the 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET regular session first.

Can I practice trading when the market is closed?

Yes. Historical replay can be used while the live market is closed, as long as the tool contains the interval and session data required by the exercise. ChartMini's current stock replay uses daily bars, so intraday stock-session drills such as the 9:30 AM open or after-hours earnings reactions require an intraday stock data source.

Is market replay useful for learning US stock market hours?

Very. Replay lets you experience how each session actually behaves — the volatile open, the quiet midday lull, the power-hour push into the close — instead of just memorizing the times. Replaying the same window repeatedly can help beginners internalize session rhythm.

What session should beginners practice first?

The opening hour, 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM ET. It concentrates the most volume and the most recognizable patterns — gaps, breakouts, and reversals. Once you're comfortable reading the open, add the 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM power hour, which is faster and more institution-driven.

US Stock Market Hours 2026: NYSE, Nasdaq Hours & Holidays