What You'll Learn:
- Stock Exchanges Are Closed on These Days in 2022 and 2023
- Special Days Before and After
- Foreign Market Closures
It’s easy to see the stock markets as one giant machine. Exchanges chug along, tracking prices, bids, asks, volume and orders through a screen that constantly updates.
Though it is sometimes possible, virtually no one talks to their broker, let alone anyone working for a brokerage.
Yet exchanges and brokerages are still businesses staffed by people. Sometimes, those people get days off for a much-needed reprieve from relentless trading.
All major stock exchanges are closed on the same days, thus keeping track of what is closed when a fairly straightforward affair.
Stock Exchanges Are Closed on These Days in 2022 and 2023
| Holiday | 2022 | 2023 |
| New Year's Day | NONE (Saturday) | January 2 – Observed (Monday) |
| Martin Luther King, Jr. Day | January 17 (Monday) | January 16 (Monday) |
| Washington's Birthday | February 21 (Monday) | February 20 (Monday) |
| Good Friday | April 15 (Friday) | April 7 (Friday) |
| Memorial Day | May 30 (Monday) | May 29 (Monday) |
| Juneteenth | June 20 – Observed (Monday) | June 19 (Monday) |
| Independence Day | July 4 (Monday) | July 4 (Tuesday)** |
| Labor Day | September 5 (Monday) | September 4 (Monday) |
| Thanksgiving Day | November 24 (Thursday)* | November 23 (Thursday) * |
| Christmas Day | December 26 – Observed (Monday) | December 25 (Monday) |
Are stock markets and exchanges closed on holidays?
In general, stock markets and exchanges are closed the same day as a holiday unless the holiday falls on a Sunday, whereby it is observed the next day.
But those pesky asterisks are in the chart, and you’ve probably figured out something else makes stock market holidays a bit more complicated. That would be the days around some holidays.
Special Days Before and After Holidays
Here is what those asterisks mean:
* Thanksgiving – This is a pretty simple rule, with Thanksgiving always on a Thursday. Trading hours on the Friday after every Thanksgiving are 9:30 am (normal open) to 1:00 pm (three hours early close).
** Independence Day 2023 – A similar rule is used for other holidays, but it can get a bit more complex when the holiday is based on the date and not the day of the week.
Through the end of 2023, the only holiday affected is Independence Day 2023.
The trading hours on Monday, July 3, 2023, are from 9:30 am (normal open) to 1:00 pm (three hours early close).
Christmas Eve – Stock markets also close early on Christmas Eve, but with December 24 landing during weekends in both 2022 and 2023, it doesn’t show in the table above.
Around the holidays, it's usually slow days for trading, barring anything suddenly happening in the markets… and they're some of the few days a year when all the bigwigs are gone. The junior partners and IT staffers are left to make sure nothing explodes.
Foreign Market Closures
There are a lot of countries out there with stock exchanges that see no reason to follow the US stock exchange holiday schedule.
Some don’t even have the same weekly schedule. For example, the Saudi Stock Exchange is open Sunday through Thursday, 10 am to 3 pm, considering Friday is a holy day.
Many of the largest that attract international interest from US-based traders – like in Canada, the UK, and Europe – often follow major non-national ones, like Good Friday/ Easter, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.
The rest becomes a dizzying mix of names and dates…
However, there are a couple to keep in mind since the exchanges they impact are popular with US investors.
Boxing Day – The day after Christmas is a market holiday in Canada, The United Kingdom, and Canada.
Canadian Thanksgiving – Markets are open in Canada on the US Thanksgiving but not the Canadian version, which falls on the second Monday of October.
Ascension Day – Markets in the United Kingdom are closed on Ascension Day, the sixth Thursday after Easter, and then the holiday shifts from mid-May to mid-June because Christian calendars are based on lunar cycles.
There are too many exchanges and market holidays to cover, so we recommend becoming acquainted with the holidays of any foreign exchange you trade through if you think you may have to exit a position quickly.
