- NYSE and Nasdaq regular hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET on weekdays, excluding market holidays.
- Extended trading typically runs from about 4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET (pre-market) and 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET (after-hours), with broker limits and higher volatility and wider spreads.
- Regulators and exchanges are moving toward much longer sessions, including SEC-approved 24X National Exchange plans for roughly 23-hour weekday trading and proposals from NYSE and Nasdaq.
- More hours could improve access and responsiveness to news but may also strain liquidity, pricing, corporate actions, and market operations.
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The customary operating hours for U.S. stock markets—specifically the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq—are firmly established at 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, on weekdays excluding designated holidays. This remains the core period when the bulk of trading activity and price discovery occurs.
Outside that window, extended trading (pre-market and after-hours) allows additional time for investors to react to news, earnings, and global developments. Pre-market often begins as early as 4:00 a.m. ET through brokers that permit it, though many brokers restrict activity until around 7:00 a.m. for much of their clients. After-hours trading customarily runs until 8:00 p.m. ET. Participation in these periods involves constraints such as lower liquidity, wider spreads, and more price volatility.
The next evolution in U.S. equity trading is underway: exchanges are seeking to extend trading availability. The 24X National Exchange, approved by the SEC in November 2024, plans to offer trading roughly 23 hours per weekday. Nasdaq and NYSE are also engaged in regulatory filings to similarly expand their trading windows toward nearly full 24-hour periods. If implemented by late 2026, these changes would materially shift how investors engage with U.S. equities.
Strategic implications of extended or 24-hour trading are multifaceted. On the upside, they enhance market access for international and retail investors, allow responses to real-time events, and may improve global competitiveness of U.S. markets. On the downside, they present risks: corporate events (e.g. earnings, dividends) outside traditional hours may complicate reporting; thin liquidity could lead to mispricing or higher transaction costs; operational support (e.g., off-hour data, clearing) must scale; and more trading hours might challenge regulatory oversight and risk management.
Open questions include: how exchanges will balance continuous trading with the need for auction windows (opening/closing auctions), how margin and order type rules will evolve outside core hours, and whether volume outside the core session will generate sustainable revenue for exchanges and brokers. Also under question is how listed companies and investors will adapt to new disclosure timing and corporate action handling when market hours are extended significantly.
Supporting Notes
- Regular trading hours (NYSE & Nasdaq): 9:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m. ET, weekdays, excluding holidays.
- Pre-market generally starts around 4:00 a.m. ET; some brokers restrict to ~7:00 a.m. ET.
- After-hours trading usually runs from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET.
- Brokerage platforms like Schwab offer 24-hours-a-day, Monday-through-Friday trading for select securities (e.g. S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, ETFs) on certain platforms.
- The 24X National Exchange, backed by Steve Cohen, obtained SEC approval to operate nearly 23-hour trading on weekdays.
- Nasdaq and NYSE have filed applications to expand trading hours—Nasdaq aims to offer 24-hour trading; NYSE is pursuing ~22-hour days.
- Risks of extended hours include lower liquidity, higher volatility, and uneven corporate action handling.
- 2026 U.S. stock market holiday schedule includes 10 official full-day closures, along with early closes on certain dates; early closing often at 1:00 p.m. ET.