Markets

Holidays and Trading Hours: What Changes in Each Market

Astron Team · 09/24/2026 · 4 min read

A common mistake among beginner traders is treating the financial market as one single thing, with a single operating schedule. In practice, each asset class follows its own calendar. The stock market closes on exchange holidays. The forex market usually runs from Sunday to Friday, pausing on weekends. Cryptocurrencies trade almost around the clock. Commodities and indices follow the calendar of the futures exchanges where they're traded.

Understanding these differences avoids two traps: trying to trade an asset that's closed, or trading an asset that's technically open during a very low-liquidity window, with wider spreads than normal.

Stocks: a fixed calendar of exchange holidays

Stock exchanges, like the American ones and Brazil's B3, close entirely on national holidays and, in some cases, have shortened sessions on the eve of important dates. Outside these specific days, operating hours tend to be fixed, which gives more predictability to stock traders than to those trading other markets. It's always worth checking the official calendar of the exchange where the asset trades, because national holidays differ from country to country and can affect stocks listed on different exchanges.

Forex: almost always open, but not always liquid

The currency market is global and decentralized, so when one country is on holiday, another financial center may keep running normally. Because of that, forex usually trades continuously during the week, from Sunday to Friday, New York time. The problem isn't the market being closed, it's liquidity dropping during certain periods, such as around Christmas and New Year's, on US and European bank holidays, and in the first hours after the Sunday open. Lower liquidity usually means wider spreads and sharper price moves for the same traded volume.

Cryptocurrencies: almost 24 hours a day, every day

Crypto assets trade almost without pause, seven days a week. That doesn't mean, however, that liquidity is constant. Exchanges and liquidity providers still go through maintenance windows, and volumes tend to drop during holidays and weekends, which can make price moves sharper exactly when fewer people are watching the market.

Commodities and indices: follow the futures exchange calendar

Gold, oil, and agricultural products usually follow the calendar of specific futures exchanges, which can have holidays and trading hours different from the stock market's hours. An index traded via a futures contract can also have different trading-hour behavior than the same index calculated at spot. Before trading any of these assets near a holiday, it's worth checking that instrument's specific calendar on the platform used, instead of assuming it follows the same schedule as stocks.

What actually changes near a holiday

• Lower than normal volume.
• Wider bid-ask spreads.
• Sharper price moves with fewer market participants.
• Early closes on some markets.
• Fewer economic indicator releases and company earnings.

Time zones can also get in the way

Besides holidays, the daylight saving time change in different countries can temporarily shift the difference between the main financial centers. When the United States and Europe change their clocks on different dates, the overlap window between the London and New York sessions, which usually concentrates much of forex liquidity, can shift for a few weeks. Anyone trading currency pairs or indices tied to these markets should check the schedule shown by the platform itself after any daylight saving change, instead of assuming the trading-hours routine stays the same all year.

Extended hours in stocks: more time, less liquidity

Some platforms offer stock trading in extended hours, before the official market open or after the official close. This window can be useful for reacting to relevant news released outside regular trading hours, but it usually has much lower volume than normal hours. That means wider spreads and a greater chance of the order being executed at a price far from what appears on screen at the moment it's sent. Treating extended hours as a normal extension of the regular session is a mistake that can get expensive.

A practical checklist before trading during a holiday week

Before opening a trade near a holiday, it's worth checking the asset's specific calendar within the platform, checking whether the spread is within normal range for that hour, reducing position size if liquidity is visibly lower, and avoiding keeping a short-term trade open during a market close, unless that's part of the trade's original plan. A holiday doesn't automatically make the market dangerous, but it does make conditions different from normal, and the trading plan should account for that.