Stock market hours around the world

How global trading hours actually work

There are eight equity exchanges that matter most for global price discovery: New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq in the United States, the London Stock Exchange and Euronext Paris in Europe, the Japan Exchange Group in Tokyo, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, the National Stock Exchange of India in Mumbai, and the Australian Securities Exchange in Sydney. Together they account for the majority of listed-equity turnover on the planet, and their opening and closing times stitch together a roughly 22-hour window across each weekday during which there is always at least one major venue open.

Each exchange publishes its hours in local civil time. That sounds harmless and is in practice the source of most cross-market scheduling errors. The NYSE's "09:30–16:00" only resolves to a UTC instant after you know whether the U.S. is on Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5, winter) or Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4, summer). The LSE's "08:00–16:30" only resolves after you know whether the UK is on GMT (winter) or BST (summer). The JPX's "09:00–11:30 / 12:30–15:00" never has a DST adjustment because Japan does not observe DST ^[3]. The result is that the gap between New York and London is 5 hours most of the year, 4 hours for two specific weeks each spring and autumn when the U.S. and the UK transition on different dates, and the gap between New York and Tokyo is 13 or 14 hours depending on which side is on summer time.

The practical consequence: if you want to know "when is the LSE open in my local zone," the only safe answer is to compute it from the LSE's IANA zone (`Europe/London`) into your own IANA zone, with both DST schedules respected. The market hours hub does this in real time for every visitor; the overlap pages do it for any pair. A static "LSE = 03:00–11:30 PT" lookup table is wrong eight days of the year and right the rest, which is the worst kind of wrong.

The other thing every global-markets primer skips: the "regular session" hours that exchanges publicize are not the only times you can trade. Pre-market and after-hours sessions on alternative trading systems extend U.S. equity trading from roughly 04:00 to 20:00 ET. Asian markets typically have less extended-hours activity. European markets have closing-auction extensions but limited true after-hours. The exchange's headline hours are the auction-and-continuous-trading window only; what your broker actually lets you do may be wider.

The eight exchanges, their hours, and their quirks

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), /markets/nyse/. Regular session 09:30–16:00 America/New_York. Pre-market 04:00–09:30, after-hours 16:00–20:00 on most ECN routes. The opening auction prints a single cross at 09:30, the closing auction prints at 16:00; both are major liquidity events. The closing auction in particular is where index funds and rebalancing trades clear, so it routinely accounts for 8–12% of the day's volume in a single one-second print. Holidays follow the U.S. federal calendar with a handful of additions; market closes early at 13:00 on Christmas Eve, day after Thanksgiving, and Independence Day eve. NYSE observes U.S. DST ^[1] — the session shifts an hour in UTC at every transition.

Nasdaq Stock Market, /markets/nasdaq/. Regular session is identical to NYSE: 09:30–16:00 America/New_York. The two markets have a shared regulatory framework (Reg NMS), and most stocks listed on either are traded on both via the National Market System. Nasdaq's pre-market opens at 04:00 ET and is the more active venue for early-session activity in tech names. Holidays match the NYSE calendar.

London Stock Exchange (LSE), /markets/lse/. Continuous trading 08:00–16:30 Europe/London, with an opening auction 07:50–08:00 and a closing auction 16:30–16:35 ^[2]. Half-day closes at 12:30 on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. Bank holidays apply. The LSE-NYSE overlap is the most-watched two-hour window in global equities.

Euronext Paris, regular session 09:00–17:30 Europe/Paris, opening auction 09:00 and closing auction 17:35. The other Euronext venues (Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon, Dublin, Oslo, Milan) run on the same schedule with minor differences. France observes EU DST, switching on the last Sunday of March and last Sunday of October.

Japan Exchange Group (JPX), /markets/jpx-tokyo/. Two sessions: morning 09:00–11:30 Asia/Tokyo, afternoon 12:30–15:00 (extended to 15:30 in 2024). The midday lunch break is one of the few preserved in major world markets and is a common surprise for foreign investors. Japan does not observe DST, so JPX's UTC times are stable year-round: 00:00–02:30 UTC and 03:30–06:00 UTC.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), /markets/hkex/. Two sessions: morning 09:30–12:00 Asia/Hong_Kong, afternoon 13:00–16:00 ^[4]. One-hour midday break. Closing-auction session 16:00–16:10. Hong Kong does not observe DST. The Mainland-Hong Kong Stock Connect schemes have additional rules about which Chinese A-shares are tradable on which days; these are worth checking when investing in dual-listed names. HKEX has been closed during typhoon warnings (signal 8 or above) historically, though the policy was changed in September 2024 to keep markets open during severe weather.

National Stock Exchange of India (NSE), regular session 09:15–15:30 Asia/Kolkata. Pre-open 09:00–09:15 with a single-price auction. India does not observe DST, so NSE hours map to a stable 03:45–10:00 UTC year-round. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) runs on the same schedule. India's trading calendar follows the Hindu, Islamic, and Christian holidays observed by the country's banking sector.

Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), /markets/asx/. Continuous trading 10:00–16:00 Australia/Sydney with a closing auction 16:10. New South Wales observes Australian Eastern Daylight Time (UTC+11) from October to April and Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10) from April to October — DST runs the opposite half of the year from the Northern Hemisphere. The ASX is on the opposite side of the Pacific from NYSE; their direct overlap is zero, and the two markets are best thought of as a relay rather than a pair.

For a complete list of all eight exchanges with current open/closed status in your local zone, the markets hub is the live reference; the open-now page filters to whatever is trading at this moment.

The overlaps that matter

Cross-market overlap is where institutional flow concentrates and where directional moves in one market most clearly transmit to the next.

LSE ↔ NYSE: the four-hour transatlantic overlap. From 14:30 UTC (09:30 New York opening) to 16:30 UTC (London close), both major Western equity centres are open. This window carries the bulk of cross-Atlantic arbitrage, ADR/ordinary-share spread trading, and the morning U.S. session's response to European macro releases. When the U.S. and UK are on the same DST schedule (most of the year) the overlap is exactly four hours. For one week each spring (March 8–14, 2026) and one week each autumn (October 26 – November 1, 2026) the U.S. and the EU/UK are out of sync, and the overlap shrinks or grows by an hour depending on direction. See /markets/overlap/lse/nyse/ for a live view.

Tokyo ↔ Hong Kong: the Asian core overlap. JPX afternoon and HKEX morning overlap from 03:30 UTC to 04:00 UTC (very brief — 30 minutes). Add HKEX afternoon (05:00–08:00 UTC) and JPX runs out at 06:00 UTC, leaving HKEX open alone for the late Asian session. The cross-listed Chinese names (Alibaba on both NYSE and HKEX, Tencent on HKEX, etc.) trade thinly during the JPX-HKEX gap and pick up volume on the HKEX afternoon open. See /markets/overlap/jpx-tokyo/hkex/.

ASX ↔ Tokyo / Hong Kong: the Asia-Pacific morning relay. ASX (00:00 UTC summer / 23:00 UTC winter open) overlaps JPX from 00:00 UTC to 02:30 UTC. This is when most cross-listed mining and resource names see their morning print. The relay then hands off to HKEX at 01:30 UTC and to JPX afternoon at 03:30 UTC.

HKEX ↔ LSE: the bridge. HKEX afternoon (05:00–08:00 UTC) overlaps with the LSE pre-open and first 30 minutes of LSE continuous (07:00–08:30 UTC LSE local). This is the window where European desks trade Asian closes and where China-related news first hits Europe-traded ADRs.

There is no NYSE ↔ Tokyo overlap. JPX closes at 06:00 UTC; NYSE opens at 13:30–14:30 UTC depending on season. Asian close to U.S. open is the longest gap in the global trading day — about 7.5 hours. Futures markets (CME's E-mini, Eurex, SGX, OSE Nikkei futures) cover this gap, but cash equities are dark.

Holidays, half-days, and emergency closures

Each exchange publishes its annual holiday calendar in local civil time. The U.S. and UK calendars overlap on roughly four days a year (Christmas, New Year's Day, Good Friday, occasionally May Day). Beyond that, there is no global trading-holiday standard.

The U.S. exchanges close on the federal-holiday subset that markets observe: New Year's, MLK Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Early-close days (13:00 ET) on the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Independence Day eve when those fall on a weekday. The NYSE has closed for unscheduled reasons four times since 2000: September 11–17, 2001 (terrorist attacks); October 29–30, 2012 (Hurricane Sandy); plus partial closures for the Ford and Bush state funerals.

The LSE observes UK bank holidays plus a half-day at 12:30 on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. JPX observes the longest holiday calendar of the eight (18–22 days a year), with a January 1–3 New Year close and the four-to-five-day Golden Week closure in late April. HKEX observes both Western holidays and the Chinese calendar — Lunar New Year (three days closed; the Mainland A-share market closes for a full week and that interacts with Stock Connect), Ching Ming, mid-Autumn, and others on a year-shifting lunar schedule. NSE India observes a varied calendar that includes both Hindu (Holi, Diwali — with a one-hour evening Muhurat session, Janmashtami) and Islamic (Eid) holidays, again on a year-shifting lunar schedule. ASX observes Australian federal and NSW state holidays.

The single most expensive holiday-related trade is one placed in a market that's actually closed for an unannounced reason. Before placing a non-trivial order, check the open-now page — the live status takes account of the current exchange holiday calendar.

Pre-market, after-hours, and the order types you actually need

Most retail brokers offer pre-market and after-hours trading on U.S. equities through electronic communication networks (ECNs) — primarily Nasdaq's INET, NYSE Arca, and Cboe BZX. These sessions are NOT the same as the regular session.

Pre-market session (04:00–09:30 ET). Lighter volume than regular hours. Spreads on small-cap names can be 5–10x wider than during the day. Limit orders only at most brokers; market orders are typically rejected or queued for the regular open. Earnings released before the open are first priced into pre-market activity, and the regular open's auction print absorbs the cumulative pre-market direction.

After-hours session (16:00–20:00 ET). Earnings released after 16:00 ET get priced here. The first 15 minutes after the closing bell can see significant directional moves on big-name earnings (AAPL, GOOG, AMZN, MSFT, META, NVDA all routinely report after the bell). Volume drops off sharply after 17:30 ET; the 18:00–20:00 window is mostly thin and easy to move on small orders.

Closing auction (15:55–16:00 ET). This is part of the regular session. Limit-on-close (LOC) and market-on-close (MOC) orders must be entered before 15:50 ET (NYSE) or 15:55 (Nasdaq) to participate. Index funds use MOC orders heavily for end-of-day rebalancing; the closing print routinely carries 8–12% of the day's volume in a single transaction.

Opening auction (09:28–09:30 ET). Market-on-open (MOO) orders must be entered before 09:28 (NYSE Arca) or 09:30 (Nasdaq). Limit-on-open (LOO) cutoff is 08:30 ET at NYSE.

MOC and LOC are not orders that "guarantee" a fill at the close. They guarantee participation in the closing auction at the auction-determined price. If the auction prints far from where you wanted to fill, you fill there.

The order types that actually matter for non-day-traders are limit orders during the regular session, and market-on-close for end-of-day rebalancing. Market orders during the first or last 30 minutes of the session are a routine source of bad fills, because spreads widen during high-volatility windows around the auctions and during the morning's first reaction to overnight news.

Foreign exchange and crypto: the markets that don't sleep

Equity exchanges set the rhythm of the trading day, but two other markets run continuously: FX and crypto.

Foreign exchange (FX) trades on a decentralized network of bank dealers, ECNs, and prime brokers. There is no single venue and no opening or closing bell. Liquidity follows the sun: the Asian session (Tokyo opens at 00:00 UTC) is the thinnest, the London session (08:00 UTC) brings the largest volume in EUR-USD and GBP-USD, and the New York session (13:00 UTC) brings the largest volume in USD pairs. The London-New York overlap (13:00–17:00 UTC most of the year) is when 50%+ of the daily FX turnover happens. FX shuts down for the weekend at 22:00 UTC Friday (when the Sydney session closes its books for the week) and reopens at 22:00 UTC Sunday (when Sydney reopens for the new week). There is no FX activity during this 48-hour weekend window.

Cryptocurrency trades 24/7/365 on centralized exchanges (Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, OKX, Bybit, etc.) and 24/7 on decentralized exchanges and on-chain protocols. There are no holidays, no opening bells, no closing auctions. Liquidity does still vary by hour — U.S. business hours bring the deepest order books on Coinbase and Kraken, Asian business hours on Binance and OKX. The lowest-liquidity windows are weekend mornings UTC; this is also when most flash crashes have historically happened, because thin order books cannot absorb large stop-cascade liquidations.

For the equity-overlap question — "is anything open right now?" — the open-now page gives the current status. For continuous markets, the answer is always yes during the work week and almost always yes on weekends.

Glossary

Regular trading session

The continuous-trading window an exchange officially supports — typically the only window during which the exchange's order book is fully active and during which closing-auction prints are official. For the NYSE this is 09:30–16:00 America/New_York; for the LSE 08:00–16:30 Europe/London; for JPX two sessions, 09:00–11:30 and 12:30–15:00 Asia/Tokyo.

Closing auction

A single-price auction at the end of the regular session that establishes the official closing price for each listed security. Orders flagged as market-on-close (MOC) or limit-on-close (LOC) participate in the auction. Index funds use the closing auction heavily for daily rebalancing, which is why a single second at the close routinely accounts for 8–12% of the day's volume.

Pre-market and after-hours

Extended trading sessions, conducted on ECNs rather than on the exchange's continuous book, that allow trading before the regular open and after the close. U.S. pre-market runs roughly 04:00–09:30 ET; after-hours 16:00–20:00 ET. Spreads are wider, volume is lighter, and most brokers restrict order types to limits only.

ECN (Electronic Communication Network)

An electronic order-matching system that routes buy and sell orders for securities outside an exchange's central limit order book. ECNs power U.S. pre-market and after-hours trading, and they handle a substantial share of regular-session order flow under Regulation NMS. Major ECNs include Nasdaq INET, NYSE Arca, and Cboe BZX.

Market-on-close (MOC) order

An order that participates in the closing auction, executing at the official closing price determined by the auction. MOC orders must be entered before a cutoff (15:50 ET at NYSE, 15:55 at Nasdaq) and cannot be cancelled after the cutoff. Used heavily by index funds and rebalancing trades; an unhedged MOC order takes whatever closing price the auction produces.

IANA zone

The canonical identifier for a civil time zone, used by every operating system and every modern exchange-feed connector for unambiguous time-of-day computation. Each exchange's hours are defined in a specific IANA zone — `America/New_York` for NYSE/Nasdaq, `Europe/London` for LSE, `Asia/Tokyo` for JPX, `Asia/Hong_Kong` for HKEX. Storing exchange hours as a fixed UTC offset rather than an IANA zone breaks at every DST transition.

Trading-day overlap

The window during which two exchanges are simultaneously open for regular trading. The most-watched overlap is LSE-NYSE, a four-hour window from 14:30 UTC to 16:30 UTC most of the year. Overlaps shrink or grow by an hour for the desynced weeks each spring and autumn when the U.S. and Europe transition into and out of DST on different dates.