Stock Market Opening & Closing Times: Complete Global Trading Hours Guide

The US stock market opens at 9:30 a.m. and closes at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), Monday to Friday. The London Stock Exchange trades from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. UK time, Tokyo from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Japan time and Hong Kong from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. local time. Most exchanges close at weekends and on local public holidays.

This guide lists the opening and closing times of the major stock exchanges, converts US hours into your time zone, and explains pre-market, after-hours and holiday trading.

Key takeaways

• The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq share the same regular trading hours: 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday.
• US pre-market trading runs from 4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET and after-hours trading from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET. Both sessions tend to have lower liquidity and wider spreads.
• Nasdaq and NYSE Arca plan to add an overnight session from 6 December 2026, which would keep US stocks trading 23 hours a day, five days a week.
• London, Toronto, Sydney and most European exchanges trade straight through the day. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur pause for lunch.
• The London and New York overlap, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. UK time, is typically one of the most liquid windows of the global trading day.
• Market holidays, half days and auction cut-off (freeze) periods differ by exchange. As a precaution, check the official exchange calendar before trading around them.

What time does the stock market open and close?

Most stock exchanges open between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and close between 3:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. local time, Monday to Friday. A typical session lasts six to eight and a half hours. Because exchanges sit in different time zones, a stock market is open somewhere in the world for most of each weekday.

The table below shows regular trading hours for the major global exchanges in local time and in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Where two UTC ranges are shown, the first applies while that country is on daylight saving time and the second while it is on standard time.

Global stock exchange trading hours at a glance

Hours are for regular (continuous) trading as of October 2026 and exclude opening and closing auctions. Sources: NYSE, TradingHours.com and official exchange calendars. Exchanges can change their schedules, so take note of the date and confirm with the exchange before trading.

For a ranking of these venues by size, see our guide to the largest stock exchanges in the world.

Why do stock market opening and closing times matter?

Opening and closing times matter because liquidity, spreads and price movement change through the day. The first 30 to 60 minutes after the open and the final hour before the close usually carry the heaviest volume, as overnight news is priced in at the open and funds rebalance into the close. Outside those windows, and outside regular hours altogether, there are fewer buyers and sellers.

Exchanges keep fixed hours for a reason. Concentrating orders into a set session keeps liquidity deep and pricing orderly, which is harder to achieve when trades are spread thinly across 24 hours. With a large share of US equity volume now handled by algorithmic trading systems that react within milliseconds of the opening bell, knowing the timetable is a basic part of planning entries and exits.

What time does the US stock market open in your time zone?

The US market opens at 9:30 a.m. ET, which is 2:30 p.m. in London, 3:30 p.m. in Frankfurt and Paris, and 9:30 p.m. or 10:30 p.m. in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong, depending on the time of year. The US observes daylight saving time and much of Asia, the Gulf and Africa does not, so the local equivalent shifts by an hour twice a year.

Take note: the US, Europe and Australia change their clocks on different dates. For about three weeks in March and one week from late October, the US open falls at 1:30 p.m. in London and 2:30 p.m. in central Europe. Sydney times also move by an hour in the weeks around early April and early October.

US stock market hours: NYSE and Nasdaq

The NYSE and Nasdaq both open at 9:30 a.m. ET and close at 4:00 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday, with no lunch break. They are the two largest stock exchanges in the world by market capitalisation and set the tone for indices such as the Dow Jones, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100.

The stock market opening at 9:30 a.m. ET is one of the most volatile moments of the day. Stocks that moved overnight on earnings or news begin trading with full participation, so the price can gap sharply from the previous close. Volume usually peaks again in the final hour, often called the power hour, between 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. ET.

Toronto Stock Exchange hours

The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) opens at 9:30 a.m. ET and closes at 4:00 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday, matching the NYSE and Nasdaq. That alignment lets North American exchanges trade in step, which matters for the many companies listed on both sides of the border.

The TSX is Canada’s main exchange and is weighted towards three areas:

• Energy and mining: Canadian resource companies account for a large share of TSX trading activity.
• Financial services: Canada’s major banks are among the most actively traded stocks.
• ETFs: Toronto is one of the larger marketplaces for exchange-traded funds.

Holidays are where the two countries differ. The TSX closes for Canadian holidays such as Victoria Day, Canada Day and Canadian Thanksgiving (12 October in 2026) while US exchanges stay open. Read more in our TSX index guide.

London Stock Exchange and European market hours

The London Stock Exchange opens at 8:00 a.m. and closes at 4:30 p.m. UK time, Monday to Friday. That is GMT in winter and British Summer Time (GMT+1) in summer. A closing auction follows from 4:30 p.m. to set the official closing price for FTSE 100 shares.

Euronext markets in Paris and Amsterdam and Germany’s Xetra platform, home of the DAX 40, trade from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Central European Time. Because continental Europe is one hour ahead of the UK, London and the main European exchanges open and close at the same moment.

Europe plays a bridging role in the global day. Its morning follows the Asian close, and its afternoon overlaps with the US open for two hours.

Asian stock market hours

Asian exchanges open first in the global trading day, and several of them split the session in two with a lunch break. Take note of those breaks if you trade Asian shares or indices, because no orders are matched while the market is paused.

Japan and South Korea

The Tokyo Stock Exchange trades from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. JST. The close moved from 3:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in November 2024, so older guides may still show the earlier time.

The Korea Exchange runs its regular session from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. KST with no lunch break. In September 2026 it also launched an after-market session that runs from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. KST.

Hong Kong and mainland China

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange opens at 9:30 a.m. and closes at 4:00 p.m. HKT, with a lunch break from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. It is the main venue for international investors seeking Chinese equities and is tracked by the Hang Seng Index.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges trade from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. China Standard Time. Their 90-minute lunch break is one of the longest among major markets.

India

The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) both trade from 9:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. IST, Monday to Friday, with no lunch break.

Singapore and Malaysia

The Singapore Exchange trades from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. SGT. Bursa Malaysia trades from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 2:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. MYT.

Australian stock market hours

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) opens at 10:00 a.m. and closes at 4:00 p.m. Sydney time, Monday to Friday. Stocks open in alphabetical groups over the first few minutes, and a closing auction sets final prices shortly after 4:00 p.m.

Sydney is one of the first major markets to open each day, which makes it an early read on sentiment in resource-heavy sectors such as mining.

Middle East and emerging market trading hours

Not every market follows a Monday to Friday week. The Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) trades Sunday to Thursday, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Arabia Standard Time, so it is open on Sundays when Western exchanges are closed and shut on Fridays when they are open.

The UAE moved to a Monday to Friday week in January 2022. The Dubai Financial Market and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange now trade on the same days as London and New York, from 10:00 a.m. local time.

Elsewhere, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange trades from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. South Africa time, and Brazil’s B3 trades from 10:00 a.m. to around 5:00 p.m. Brasília time. As a reminder, emerging market schedules change more often than those of the largest exchanges, so confirm them before you trade.

Pre-market and after-hours trading: extended hours explained

Extended hours trading is stock trading that takes place outside an exchange’s regular session. In the US it covers the pre-market session before 9:30 a.m. ET and the after-hours session after 4:00 p.m. ET. Orders are matched electronically, but with far fewer participants than during regular trading hours.

When is pre-market trading?

US pre-market trading runs from 4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET, with most activity in the last two hours before the open. It lets traders react to earnings, economic data and overnight moves in Europe and Asia before the opening bell.

Take note: pre-market prices can be misleading. A small order can move a thinly traded stock a long way, and the price often resets once the full market opens at 9:30 a.m. ET.

When is after-hours trading?

US after-hours trading runs from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET. Many companies report earnings just after the close, so individual stocks can move sharply in this session. Those moves do not always hold when regular trading resumes the next morning.

Is 24-hour stock trading coming?

Nearly. As of October 2026, Nasdaq and NYSE Arca plan to launch an overnight session on 6 December 2026. It is due to run from 9:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. ET, starting on Sunday night, with a one-hour pause from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET each day. Together with the existing sessions, that would give US stocks a 23-hour trading day, five days a week (Nasdaq, Jones Day).

Reminder: the launch date depends on market infrastructure being ready, and access depends on your broker. Overnight liquidity is expected to be thinner than in regular hours.

Regular hours vs extended hours

Caution: lower liquidity is the main risk of extended hours trading. Spreads widen, orders may fill only in part or not at all, and prices can reverse at the next open. Limit orders and smaller position sizes are common precautions.

Stock market holidays in 2026 and 2027

US stock exchanges close on 10 holidays a year and shut early, at 1:00 p.m. ET, on a few days around Thanksgiving and Christmas. The NYSE and Nasdaq follow the same holiday calendar.

Source: NYSE hours and calendars and Nasdaq holiday schedule.

Early closes at 1:00 p.m. ET fall on Friday 27 November 2026 (the day after Thanksgiving), Thursday 24 December 2026 (Christmas Eve) and Friday 26 November 2027.

Other exchanges keep their own calendars. London closes for UK bank holidays, Tokyo for Golden Week, and Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore for Lunar New Year. When a holiday falls on a weekend, US exchanges typically observe it on the nearest weekday.

Reminder: a holiday in one major centre can thin out liquidity elsewhere. When US markets are closed, trading in Europe and Asia is often quieter than usual. A position left open over a holiday is also exposed to gap risk when the market reopens.

What is a freeze period in stock trading?

A freeze period is a short window around an opening or closing auction when orders cannot be amended or cancelled. Exchanges use it so that the auction price is calculated from a stable order book. It is also called a no-cancellation or order cut-off period.

Freeze periods typically apply at two points in the day:

• Before the open: Hong Kong’s pre-opening session includes a no-cancellation period from 9:15 a.m. to 9:20 a.m. HKT, ahead of the 9:30 a.m. open.
• Before the close: on the NYSE, market-on-close and limit-on-close orders must be entered by 3:50 p.m. ET and generally cannot be cancelled after that. Nasdaq applies a similar cut-off at 3:55 p.m. ET.

A freeze period is different from a trading halt. A halt pauses trading in a single stock, usually because the company is about to release material news or the price has moved too far, too fast.

Precaution: if you plan to trade the open or close, place or adjust orders before the cut-off. Auction rules differ by exchange, so check them for the market you trade.

When do stock markets overlap?

Stock markets overlap when two major exchanges are open at the same time. The most important overlap is London and New York, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. UK time (9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET). With traders on both sides of the Atlantic active, it is typically one of the most liquid periods of the day.

Tokyo and London do not overlap. Tokyo closes at 3:30 p.m. JST, which is 6:30 a.m. GMT, before London opens at 8:00 a.m.

What is the best time of day to trade stocks?

For most active traders, the busiest and most liquid times are the first hour after the open and the last hour before the close. In the US, that means 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. ET and 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. There is no single best time, though. It depends on your strategy and how much volatility you are comfortable with.

Less volatility: the midday lull

Between about 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. ET, US markets usually see less volatility and lower volume. The morning rush has faded and institutions have not yet started positioning for the close. Price moves tend to be smaller, and spreads on less liquid stocks can widen slightly.

Some traders step back during this window. Others prefer it because calmer conditions suit their approach. Either way, it helps to know which type of market you are trading in.

How do trading hours work for share CFDs?

A share CFD (contract for difference) tracks the price of an underlying share without you owning it. Because the price comes from the underlying market, share CFDs can generally be traded only while that exchange is open, and they pause on its holidays.

VT Markets offers share CFDs on more than 800 companies listed in the US, UK, Europe and Hong Kong, so the sessions in this guide apply directly. A few points to take note of:

• Platform time: MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 show server time, not your local time. See our guide to trading server time to convert it.
• Session details: each symbol’s exact trading hours are listed in its contract specification on the platform.
• Gaps: a share can open well above or below its previous close, and a stop loss may be filled at the next available price.
• Leverage: CFD leverage magnifies both gains and losses, so position sizing matters most around the open, the close and earnings releases.

Forex and gold follow a different timetable. See our guide to forex market hours for those sessions.

How to build your trading schedule around market hours

1. Identify your primary markets. Decide whether you mainly trade US, European or Asian shares and indices. That determines which exchange hours matter to you.
2. Convert the hours to your time zone. Use the tables above, and adjust when clocks change in March, October and November.
3. Focus on the active windows. The first 60 to 90 minutes and the final hour of the regular session usually offer the most liquidity.
4. Treat pre-market prices with caution. Use them as information, and wait for the stock market opening to confirm the direction.
5. Respect the freeze period. Know your exchange’s auction cut-off times so that orders behave as you expect.
6. Mark market holidays. Set reminders for closures and half days in every market you trade.
7. Size positions for the session. In extended hours and around holidays, smaller positions and limit orders are sensible precautions. See our risk management tips for more.

The VT Markets economic calendar lists scheduled data releases and events alongside session times, which helps when you follow several exchanges at once.

Frequently asked questions

What time does the stock market open and close in Eastern Time?

The NYSE and Nasdaq open at 9:30 a.m. ET and close at 4:00 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday. Pre-market trading runs from 4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET, and after-hours trading runs from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET.

Is the stock market open on weekends?

No. Major stock exchanges in the US, Europe and Asia are closed on Saturdays and Sundays. The main exceptions are some Middle East markets, such as the Saudi Exchange, which trade from Sunday to Thursday.

Can you trade stocks 24 hours a day?

Not on a single exchange today. US stocks trade for 16 hours a day across the pre-market, regular and after-hours sessions. Nasdaq and NYSE Arca plan to add an overnight session from 6 December 2026, which would extend that to 23 hours a day, five days a week. Access depends on your broker.

Does the Toronto Stock Exchange follow the same hours as the NYSE?

Yes. The Toronto Stock Exchange trades from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, the same regular hours as the NYSE and Nasdaq. The holiday calendars differ: the TSX closes on Canadian holidays such as Victoria Day and Canada Day while US exchanges stay open.

The bottom line on stock market hours

Stock market opening and closing times shape when liquidity is deepest and when prices move most. Know the regular hours of the exchanges you trade, convert them to your own time zone, and plan around holidays, auctions and the thinner extended sessions. It is a simple habit that helps you avoid trading when markets are closed or quiet.

Start trading share CFDs with VT Markets

Ready to put market hours to work? Trade share CFDs across US, UK, European and Hong Kong markets on MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5. New to trading? Practise first with a demo account before you commit funds to a live account.Trading CFDs carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Leverage can magnify both gains and losses. This article is for general information only and is not financial advice.

Trading on global exchanges carries significant risk, including the possible loss of more capital than you have deposited. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Always conduct your own research and consider your financial situation carefully before trading. VT Markets offers a range of educational resources and trading tools through its platform to support informed trading decisions.