Stock Market Hours on Columbus Day
The stock market is closed on Columbus Day
The U.S. stock market does not trade on Columbus Day. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ both shut down for the holiday, which falls on the second Monday of October. No stocks change hands, no options trade, and no bonds settle on that day.
If you have a sell order pending or are waiting to buy shares, those orders will not execute on Columbus Day itself. They will sit in your brokerage account and process on the next trading day, which is Tuesday. This matters most if you are trying to move money quickly or lock in a price before a major announcement.
Key Takeaways
- The NYSE and NASDAQ close entirely on Columbus Day, the second Monday in October, and no trading happens that day.
- Pending buy and sell orders will not execute on Columbus Day and will wait until the market reopens on Tuesday.
- You can still place orders through your brokerage on Columbus Day, but they will sit as pending orders until Tuesday morning.
- If you need to trade on or around Columbus Day, plan ahead by placing orders before the holiday or waiting until after the market reopens.
What happens to pending orders on Columbus Day
Orders you place before the market closes on Friday will remain pending through the weekend and Columbus Day. When the market opens on Tuesday morning, those orders enter the queue with all the other orders that accumulated over the holiday. If your order is a market order (buy or sell at whatever price the market is at), it will likely fill within seconds of the opening bell. If it is a limit order (buy at a specific price or lower, or sell at a specific price or higher), it will sit until the market reaches your price.
The risk is that prices can move significantly over a three-day weekend. If you placed a limit order to sell at $50 and the stock opens Tuesday at $48, your order will not fill unless the price climbs back up. The reverse is true for buy orders: if you set a limit to buy at $50 and the stock opens at $52, you will miss the trade.
How to place trades around the holiday
You can place orders through your brokerage account on Columbus Day itself, even though the market is closed. Log into your account, enter your buy or sell order, and submit it. The order will show as pending in your account. It will not execute until the market opens on Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time.
If you want to trade before the holiday, place your order on Friday before the 4 p.m. close. If you want to trade after the holiday, wait until Tuesday morning after 9:30 a.m. There is no way to trade during the holiday itself, and no brokerage can execute your order while the market is closed.
Other U.S. market closures you should know
Columbus Day is one of nine days per year when the U.S. stock market closes completely. The others are New Year's Day (January 1), Martin Luther King Jr. Day (third Monday in January), Presidents' Day (third Monday in February), Good Friday (varies, usually in March or April), Memorial Day (last Monday in May), Juneteenth (June 19), Independence Day (July 4), Labor Day (first Monday in September), Thanksgiving Day (fourth Thursday in November), and Christmas Day (December 25).
On these days, the market does not open at all. There is no early close, no partial trading, and no after-hours session. Your brokerage may offer extended-hours trading (before 9:30 a.m. or after 4 p.m.), but that is a separate system with lower volume and wider spreads, and it does not operate on market closure days.
Planning your trades around market closures
If you are planning to buy or sell around a market closure, place your order at least one trading day before the holiday. This gives you time to see whether the order fills and to adjust if needed. If you are waiting for news or earnings that might come out near a holiday, remember that the market will be closed and prices will not move until it reopens.
Some investors use the extra time to review their portfolio or research stocks they are thinking about buying. Others set limit orders a few days before the holiday, knowing that the market may gap up or down when it reopens and their order might fill at a better price than they expected. The key is to plan ahead rather than trying to trade on the day itself.
After-hours and weekend trading options
If you need to trade when the market is closed, your brokerage may offer extended-hours trading. This typically runs from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time after the market closes, and from 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. before it opens. However, extended-hours trading does not operate on market closure days like Columbus Day. The system simply does not function when the exchange is shut down.
Some brokerages also offer access to international markets, which may be open when the U.S. market is closed. However, this is a different market with different securities, and it does not let you trade U.S. stocks on Columbus Day. If you hold U.S. stocks and want to trade them, you must wait until Tuesday.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I place a trade on Columbus Day even though the market is closed?
Yes, you can place an order through your brokerage account on Columbus Day. The order will show as pending in your account and will execute when the market opens on Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time. Your brokerage accepts the order, but the exchange does not process it until the market reopens.
What if I placed a limit order before Columbus Day and the stock gaps past my price when the market opens?
Your order will not fill. If you set a limit to sell at $50 and the stock opens at $52, your order sits in the queue. If you set a limit to buy at $50 and the stock opens at $48, your order also sits. You can cancel the order and place a new one at a different price, or you can leave it and hope the stock comes back to your price later in the day.
Do I lose money if the market is closed on Columbus Day?
The market being closed does not cause you to lose money. Your holdings are still yours, and their value does not change while the market is shut. However, prices can move significantly over a three-day weekend, so the value of your portfolio may be different when the market reopens on Tuesday than it was on Friday.
Can I trade international stocks on Columbus Day?
Yes, international stock exchanges operate on their own schedules. If your brokerage offers access to European or Asian markets, you can trade those stocks on Columbus Day. However, you cannot trade U.S. stocks on the NYSE or NASDAQ, and most U.S. brokerages do not offer international trading as a standard feature.