Stock market hours: regular, pre-market, after-hours and overnight

The US stock market's regular session runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday to Friday, except market holidays. That six-and-a-half-hour window is when almost all trading volume happens, when the official opening and closing prices are set, and when the quotes you see are the most competitive.

Trading doesn't stop at 4:00, though. Most brokers let customers trade in a pre-market session from as early as 4:00 a.m. and an after-hours session until 8:00 p.m., and a growing number of venues offer overnight trading in between. This guide maps the full trading day, lists the 2026 holidays and early closes, explains what is changing with round-the-clock trading, and sets out why prices outside regular hours behave differently.

The regular session

The regular session is anchored by two auctions on each stock's listing exchange. The opening auction at 9:30 a.m. gathers all the orders that built up overnight and sets a single opening price. The closing auction at 4:00 p.m. does the same in reverse, and its price becomes the official close: the number used for the day's percentage change, for mutual-fund values and for index levels.

In between, the market is at its deepest. Thousands of participants, from market makers to pension funds, are quoting and trading, so spreads are tightest and large orders can be filled with the least price impact. Volume follows a "U" shape: heavy at the open, lighter around midday and heavy again into the close, when index funds and other institutions do much of their trading.

Pre-market and after-hours sessions

Extended-hours trading is real trading on real venues. On the NYSE's own hours page for 2026, NYSE Arca runs an early session from 4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and a late session from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.; Nasdaq offers similar pre-market and after-hours sessions.

What you can actually do depends on your broker. Some start pre-market trading at 4:00 a.m., others at 7:00 a.m. Some end after-hours trading at 6:00 p.m., others at 8:00 p.m. Many accept only limit orders outside regular hours, and many treat an extended-hours order as good only for that session.

Why trade then at all? Mostly because news doesn't wait. Most US companies release quarterly earnings either before the open or after the close, so the first reaction to a report happens in extended hours. Economic data such as the monthly jobs report comes out at 8:30 a.m. ET, an hour before the open. And investors in other time zones may find regular US hours inconvenient.

A real example: the price before the open

On Thursday, October 29, 2026, Apple (AAPL) closed the regular session at $348.91 and Nvidia (NVDA) at $213.66, according to Finabase quote data. Early on Friday, October 30, at about 6:50 a.m. ET, Finabase showed extended-hours prices of $345.21 for AAPL and $207.37 for NVDA: 1.06% and 2.94% below their closes. Neither number is official. The official change for Friday will be measured from Thursday's close to Friday's 4:00 p.m. close, and the pre-market price may or may not hold once the regular session's full liquidity arrives at 9:30.

2026 market holidays and early closes

The NYSE and Nasdaq follow the same holiday calendar. For 2026:

On the two early-close days, the NYSE says eligible options close at 1:15 p.m. and the late sessions on NYSE Arca and NYSE American end at 5:00 p.m. Good Friday is a stock-market holiday even though it is not a federal one. When a holiday falls on a Saturday the market usually closes the Friday before, and when it falls on a Sunday, the Monday after.

Overnight and 24-hour trading

The biggest change to US market hours in decades is underway. Demand from investors in Asia, and from US retail investors reacting to evening news, has pushed venues toward trading through the night.

What exists today. FINRA notes that overnight trading, roughly 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. ET, has become available to retail investors for certain stocks. It runs mainly on alternative trading systems, broker-operated venues that are not exchanges, and only some brokers connect to them.

What is approved. On April 10, 2026, the SEC approved Nasdaq's plan to trade 23 hours a day, five days a week: a day session from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., a one-hour pause, and a night session from 9:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., Sunday through Thursday nights. Only limit orders would be accepted at night. The night session can't start until the public data feeds, the securities information processors that publish consolidated quotes and trades, can run overnight; the SIP operators have said they expect to extend their hours on December 6, 2026, and Nasdaq's own overnight-trading page gives that date for its night session, "pending SIP readiness" and any SEC rule changes. Night-session trades between 9:00 p.m. and midnight would carry the next day's trade date. NYSE Arca received SEC approval for extended hours in February 2025 and is also targeting a 9:00 p.m.–4:00 a.m. session in 2026, subject to SEC approval of the details. And 24X National Exchange, which began trading on October 14, 2025 with pre-market, regular and post-market sessions only, has conditional SEC relief for a 9:00 p.m.–4:00 a.m. session that takes effect on January 24, 2027, if the SIPs are not ready by then.

As of late October 2026, then, round-the-clock exchange trading is planned, approved in part and dependent on shared infrastructure that is still being built. Dates may move.

The risks of trading outside regular hours

FINRA and the SEC's Investor.gov bulletin describe the same core risks, and they all come from one fact: far fewer people are trading.

Less liquidity. With fewer buyers and sellers, your order may be filled only partly, or not at all, and possibly at a worse price than you would get during the day.

Wider spreads. The gap between the bid and the ask is usually much wider. That gap is a direct cost every time you trade.

More volatility. A modest order can move a thin market, and prices can swing sharply in response to news, especially earnings.

Unlinked prices. The national best bid and offer that protects regular-session orders is published only during regular hours, FINRA notes, so one extended-hours venue may show a worse price than another at the same moment.

Prices that don't stick. Extended-hours prices don't change the official close, and the next day's opening auction can open well away from the last after-hours trade.

Professional competition. Many of the participants trading at night are professionals with better information and tools.

Regular versus extended hours

How Finabase helps

Finabase's market overview labels the current US market phase as market open, pre-market, after hours or closed, using the exchange calendar with its holidays and 1:00 p.m. early closes. On every symbol page, the quote shows the regular-session price and change, and, when there is one, a separate extended-hours price with its own percentage change, so you can tell an after-hours move from the day's official result. The trending page collects the day's biggest pre-market and after-hours movers.

To see why extended-hours spreads matter so much, read Bid-ask spread: what it is, what it costs and how to read it. For where these sessions run, see Stock exchanges explained: NYSE, Nasdaq and where your order goes.

Frequently asked questions

What time does the stock market open and close?

The regular session opens at 9:30 a.m. and closes at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on weekdays, except holidays. On early-close days, such as November 27 and December 24, 2026, it closes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Can anyone trade pre-market and after-hours?

Most US online brokers offer it, but each sets its own hours, eligible stocks and order types, and some require you to accept an extended-hours risk disclosure first. Check your broker's rules before you rely on it.

Is the stock market open on Good Friday?

No. Good Friday is a NYSE and Nasdaq holiday even though it is not a federal holiday. In 2026 it fell on April 3.

Is the stock market open 24 hours?

Not yet on the main exchanges. Some broker-run venues trade selected stocks overnight, and the SEC approved Nasdaq's 23-hour plan in April 2026, but its night session depends on the public data feeds running overnight, which the operators expect from December 2026.

Summary

US stocks trade officially from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, with opening and closing auctions that set the prices the rest of the market uses. Around that core, venues offer pre-market trading from about 4:00 a.m., after-hours trading to about 8:00 p.m., and, increasingly, overnight sessions, with Nasdaq's approved 23-hour plan waiting on shared data infrastructure. The market closes for ten holidays and closes early twice in 2026. Outside regular hours, fewer participants mean wider spreads, larger swings and prices that may not survive the next open, which is why limit orders and caution belong together there.