NYSE and NASDAQ core trading hours
The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ run on one clock: Eastern Time. The core session is 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. No exceptions. The bell rings at the same moment whether the trader sits in Manhattan or Monterey.
Forget the conversion and the trade goes wrong. A Los Angeles trader who misses the March clock change shows up an hour early or late. A London portfolio manager needs the correct offset to avoid missing the close. The rule: know your offset from Eastern Time, and check whether the US is on Eastern Standard Time or Eastern Daylight Time.
On 15 January 2026, Washington is on EST, UTC−5. On Sunday 8 March 2026 at 2:00 a.m. local, clocks spring forward to EDT, UTC−4. That shifts everything for zones that do not observe DST or change on different dates.
Market hours in Central, Mountain, and Pacific
Core session times for the four mainland US zones, using the current offset (January 2026, all zones on standard time):
| Time Zone | Market Opens | Market Closes |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern (EST) | 9:30 a.m. | 4:00 p.m. |
| Central (CST) | 8:30 a.m. | 3:00 p.m. |
| Mountain (MST) | 7:30 a.m. | 2:00 p.m. |
| Pacific (PST) | 6:30 a.m. | 1:00 p.m. |
When DST kicks in on 8 March 2026 for most of the US, Pacific traders shift to PDT (UTC−7). The market still opens at 6:30 a.m. PT and closes at 1:00 p.m. PT. Same clock numbers, one hour earlier relative to UTC.
Arizona does not observe DST. Hawaii does not observe DST. Both stay on standard time year-round. During US DST, Arizona is three hours behind Eastern: market opens 6:30 a.m. MST. Hawaii is six hours behind: market opens 3:30 a.m. HST.
Pre-market and after-hours trading
The market does not go silent outside 9:30 to 4:00. Two additional windows exist.
Pre-market trading: 4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET. After-hours trading: 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET.
These are not the full exchange. Volume is thinner, spreads are wider, and not all order types are available. Reacting to an overnight earnings report or a geopolitical event? These windows are the only option outside core hours.
For a Pacific trader on standard time: pre-market starts at 1:00 a.m. PT. After-hours runs 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. PT.
Bond market hours
Bonds trade on a different schedule. The US bond market (Treasuries, corporates, municipals) typically operates 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET.
That extra hour on both ends matters. A bond trader in Chicago on CST gets a 7:00 a.m. start. In Los Angeles on PST, the bond market opens at 5:00 a.m. PT.
Market holidays vs federal holidays
Market holidays are not the same as federal holidays.
Federal holidays close federal offices, post offices, and banks. The 2026 list: New Year's Day (Thursday 1 January), Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday 19 January), Washington's Birthday (Monday 16 February), Memorial Day (Monday 25 May), Juneteenth National Independence Day (Friday 19 June), Independence Day observed (Friday 3 July), Independence Day (Saturday 4 July), Labor Day (Monday 7 September), Columbus Day (Monday 12 October), Veterans Day (Wednesday 11 November), Thanksgiving Day (Thursday 26 November), Christmas Day (Friday 25 December).
Market holidays close the exchanges. The list is similar but not identical. The critical difference: Good Friday is a market holiday but not a federal holiday. On Good Friday, the NYSE and NASDAQ are closed. The post office is open. A broker's office may or may not answer the phone.
Some federal holidays that fall on a weekend are observed on Friday or Monday by the government but not by the markets. Check the NYSE trading calendar before scheduling a trade.
How DST changes shift market hours for other zones
Daylight saving time shifts the start and end of the trading day relative to a local clock, unless the zone does not observe DST.
The next change: 8 March 2026. Clocks spring forward at 2:00 a.m. in most of the US. Eastern goes from EST (UTC−5) to EDT (UTC−4). For a trader in Paris, the market open slides from 15:30 CET to 15:30 CEST. The clock number stays the same; the UTC offset shifts. For a trader in Tokyo (JST, no DST), the offset shrinks. On 15 January 2026, Tokyo is 14 hours ahead of Washington. On 15 July 2026, Tokyo is 13 hours ahead. The market open in Tokyo shifts from 23:30 JST to 22:30 JST.
1 November 2026: clocks fall back. Eastern returns to EST (UTC−5). Offsets reverse.
If you are in a zone that does not change (Arizona, Hawaii), your offset from Eastern shifts by one hour twice a year. On 8 March 2026, Arizona goes from two hours behind Eastern to three hours behind. On 1 November, it goes back.
The best practice: convert the current Eastern Time to your zone on the day you need it. Never rely on a permanent conversion chart.