When the Stock Market Is Closed Tomorrow and Why
How to learn about the stock market is open tomorrow
The stock market is closed on weekends and on 10 federal holidays each year. The easiest way to check is to look at the calendar on your brokerage website or app — most show trading days in green and closed days in gray. If you do not have a brokerage account yet, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ both publish their holiday schedules online, and they are the same every year once you know them.
If tomorrow is a Saturday or Sunday, the market is closed. If it is a weekday but you are not sure whether it is a holiday, check your broker's calendar first — that is the fastest answer. If you cannot access your account, the NYSE website lists every day the market will be closed for the current and next year.
Key Takeaways
- The stock market closes on all Saturdays and Sundays, and on 10 federal holidays each year.
- Your brokerage app or website shows which days are trading days and which are closed, usually with a color-coded calendar.
- The same 10 holidays close the market every year: New Year's Day, MLK Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
- If the market is closed tomorrow, any trade you place will not execute until the next trading day.
- The market opens at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time on trading days and closes at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time.
The 10 holidays that close the stock market every year
The market closes on New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day (third Monday in January), Presidents' Day (third Monday in February), Good Friday (the Friday before Easter), Memorial Day (last Monday in May), Juneteenth (June 19), Independence Day (July 4), Labor Day (first Monday in September), Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November), and Christmas (December 25).
These dates are fixed or follow the same pattern every year, so you can mark them on your calendar now. If a holiday falls on a weekend, the market is already closed, so there is no makeup closure on the following Monday — the only exception is when the NYSE decides to close early (usually at 1:00 p.m. Eastern) on the day before Thanksgiving, which happens every year.
What happens if you try to trade when the market is closed
If you place a trade after the market closes or before it opens, your order sits in a queue until the next trading day. Most brokers let you place orders anytime, but they will not execute until 9:30 a.m. Eastern on the next day the market is open. This means if you place a buy order on a Friday evening, it will not execute until Monday morning at 9:30 a.m. — unless Monday is a holiday, in which case it waits until Tuesday.
The price you see when you place the order is not the price you will pay. Stock prices change overnight and during market closures, so your order may execute at a different price than you expected. If you want to control the price, you can set a limit order (buy only at this price or lower, sell only at this price or higher), but there is no may provide it will execute at all if the stock never reaches that price.
Extended hours trading and what it means
Some brokers offer extended hours trading, which lets you trade before the market opens (starting at 4:00 a.m. Eastern) or after it closes (until 8:00 p.m. Eastern). Extended hours are not the same as regular market hours — there are fewer buyers and sellers, prices can swing more dramatically, and bid-ask spreads (the gap between what you can buy for and sell for) are wider. Most individual investors avoid extended hours because the risk is higher and the volume is lower.
Extended hours trading is not available on market holidays. Even if your broker offers it, you cannot trade on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any of the other 10 closed days. The only time extended hours matter is on regular trading days when you want to trade outside 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern.
Why the market closes on certain days
The stock market closes on federal holidays because the government offices that oversee it are closed, and because it gives the financial system time to settle trades and process transactions. The market also closes on weekends for the same reason — there is no need to trade when the underlying businesses are not operating and no new information is being released.
Good Friday is the only religious holiday the market observes. It is not a federal holiday, but the NYSE has closed on Good Friday since 1900 as a matter of tradition and to allow the financial industry time off.
Planning trades around market closures
If you know the market will be closed tomorrow, you have two options: place your order now (if the market is still open today) and let it queue for the next trading day, or wait until the market reopens and place your order then. There is no advantage to placing an order early — it will sit in the queue at the same price you set it, and it will execute at the market price when the market opens, not at the price you saw when you placed it.
If you are waiting for news or earnings reports that come out after the market closes, remember that the stock price will not adjust until the next trading day. This is why stocks sometimes gap up or down at the open — the price jumps to reflect overnight news. If you place a limit order before the news comes out, your order might not execute because the stock has moved past your limit price.
International markets and after-hours news
While the U.S. stock market is closed, international markets are still trading. If major news breaks overnight — a company announcement, an economic report from another country, a geopolitical event — the price of U.S. stocks may move in extended hours trading or at the open the next day. This is why checking the news before the market opens is important, especially if you have orders queued to execute.
If you own stocks that trade on international exchanges as well as the NYSE or NASDAQ, those stocks may move in price overnight. When the U.S. market opens, the stock price will adjust to reflect the overnight trading and news.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the stock market open on Presidents' Day?
No, the stock market is closed on Presidents' Day, which falls on the third Monday in February. All U.S. stock exchanges close on this day, and any orders you place will not execute until the next trading day.
Can I trade stocks on Thanksgiving?
No, the market is closed on Thanksgiving. The NYSE closes early (at 1:00 p.m. Eastern) on the day before Thanksgiving, but the market is fully closed on Thanksgiving Day itself. Any orders placed will execute on the next trading day, which is usually Friday.
What time does the stock market open and close?
The regular market opens at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time and closes at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time on trading days. Extended hours trading (if your broker offers it) starts at 4:00 a.m. Eastern in the morning and runs until 8:00 p.m. Eastern in the evening, but this is not available on market holidays.
If a holiday falls on a weekend, does the market close on Friday or Monday?
The market is already closed on weekends, so if a holiday falls on Saturday or Sunday, there is no additional closure. The market operates normally on the Friday before and the Monday after. The only exception is when the NYSE chooses to close early on the day before a holiday that falls on a weekend, which does not happen.
Will my order execute if I place it after the market closes?
Your order will queue and execute on the next trading day at market open (9:30 a.m. Eastern), unless you set a limit price. If you set a limit order, it will execute only if the stock reaches that price. If the market is closed tomorrow, your order will wait until the day after tomorrow or whenever the market reopens.