How Many Trading Days in a Year & Month? [2023]

Stock exchanges don’t operate on a 24/7 basis. In most cases, stock exchange trading is available between Monday and Friday, while trading is not available on Saturday and Sunday, as well as certain national holidays in the case of the United States. The holidays when trading is closed are known as “market holidays”.

In 2023, there are 250 trading days. There are about 252 trading days in an average year.

How many trading days are there in a year?

There are around 250 trading days in a year. It’s not very complicated to calculate the number of trading days in any given year. We can simply take the number of days in the year (usually 365, 366 in a leap year) and deduct the number of weekend days (Saturdays and Sundays), as well as the number of market holidays (10 as of 2023).

So, for 2023, we would calculate the number of trading days in the United States like this:

365 days – 105 weekend days – 10 market holidays = 250 trading days.

Market holidays in the United States

In the US stock market, there are 10 trading holidays. On these holidays, stock exchanges such as the NYSE are not open. The most recent holiday to be designated as a market holiday is Juneteenth, which was added to the list in 2021. Here’s the list of U.S. market holidays as of 2023:

Trading hours explained

Trading hours can vary among stock exchanges. The three major stock exchanges in North America, namely the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange, have trading hours between 9:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

Some stock exchanges in the Asian market, namely the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, have a lunch break during which trading is halted. You can view the trading hours for various stock exchanges on a platform called TradingHours.

The forex market is open for 24 hours a day, and traders in the U.S. can access it from Sunday evening until Friday evening. The 24-hour forex trading day consists of four main trading sessions: the Sydney session, Tokyo session, London session and New York session.

Extended-hours trading

Trading that is done before and after the standard stock exchange operating hours is referred to as extended-hours trading. This kind of trading is usually performed through an Electronic Communication Network (ECN). Extended-hours trading is riskier than standard trading, as there is usually lower liquidity, wider spreads and various restrictions on the orders that can be submitted.

After-hours trading

In the United States, after-hours trading is the trading period that starts after 4 p.m., when the biggest U.S. stock exchanges close. Usually, the after-hours trading session concludes at around 8 p.m. 

Premarket trading

In the U.S. market, premarket trading usually takes place between 8 a.m. and 9:30 p.m., when the major stock exchanges open. Most often, traders use premarket trading to react to news  events that happen overnight.

The bottom line

Hopefully, our article helped you understand when the stock market and the forex market are open, and the differences between the way these two markets operate. The number of trading days in any given year varies depending on whether it’s a leap year or not, and the amount of weekend days in the year.

If you’re interested in exploring more content related to stocks, make sure to check out our article showcasing the best stocks to buy now. 

FAQs

Now, let’s take a look at some of the most common questions traders and investors have when it comes to the topic of trading days.

How many stock trading days are there in a year?

In 2023, there are 250 stock trading days in the United States. However, there are about 252 trading days in an average year.

How many forex trading days are there in a year?

There are around 250 forex trading days in a year, although you can also arguably count Sundays as trading days. For example, if you live in the United States and your time zone is EST, you can actually access the forex markets on Sunday from 5 p.m. onwards.

How many trading days are there in a month?

There’s an average of 21 trading days per month. Trading is not available on Saturdays and Sundays, as well as holidays that are designated as market holidays.

How many forex trading days are there in a month?

There are 21 forex trading days in an average month. The forex market is open between Monday and Friday. However, due to time zone differences, the forex market can be accessed on Sundays in some countries.

How long is 1 trading day?

Major U.S. stock exchanges NYSE and Nasdaq are open between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., which means that the trading day lasts for six and a half hours. However, if we take a look at stock exchanges across the globe, there’s quite a bit of variation in trading day length. Meanwhile, the forex market has a 24-hour trading day.