How many trading days are there in a year? The NYSE and NASDAQ are open for stock trading an average of approximately 253 trading days a year. This is calculated from the 365.25 days on average per year multiplied by 5/7 for the proportion of trading days per week minus 6 weekday holidays and subtracting 3 times 5/7 fixed date holidays equals 252.75 ≈ 253.[1]
In the U.S. stock market, the trading day consists of the regular hours which is the time period that a stock exchange is open for transactions which is different from the electronic or extended after hours trading. The New York Stock Exchange is open from 9:30 AM Eastern Time to 4:00 PM Eastern Time on an average trading day. A normal week consists of five trading days from Monday through Friday and then the exchange closes for the weekend. At the end of a trading day, all regular hour trading ends until the open the next trading day. Stocks can be trading on the after hours market and in the premarket the next morning. Stock exchanges are closed for several holidays a year and in the rare case of a local or national emergency, September 11, 2001 and World War I are two examples of such events that closed the exchanges for an extended period of time.
The holidays when U.S. stock exchanges are closed are the following:
- New Year’s Day
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
- Presidents’ Day
- Good Friday
- Memorial Day
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Christmas Day
The U.S. stock exchanges are open on many holidays including Columbus Day, Veterans Day, and New Year’s Eve. A few trading days are half days around major holidays: the day before Independence Day, the day after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve and the exchanges are only open between 9:30AM–1:00PM and close early to give traders time to travel and be with their families.
Note this is for stock traders and other markets are open much different hours.
- The forex market trades 24 hours hours a day and five days a week.
- Most futures contracts start trading Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern time and close on Friday afternoon between 4:30 and 5 p.m. Eastern. Futures trading will stop for 30 to 60 minutes at the end of the normal business day.
- The cryptocurrency market trades 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.
