LemonTrades
TL;DR
- The US stock market has 251 trading days in 2026 and 251 in 2027: 261 weekdays minus 10 market holidays each year.
- Finance uses 252 as the standard trading year, for example to turn daily volatility into yearly volatility.
- There are 49 trading days left in 2026, counting today.
- LemonTrades knows the market calendar and warns you before every release that moves your markets, holiday weeks included.
The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq trade Monday to Friday, 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern time, except on market holidays. Here’s the count.
| Year | Weekdays | Market holidays | Trading days | Early closes (1:00 PM) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 261 | 10 | 251 | 2 |
| 2027 | 261 | 10 | 251 | 1 |
Trading days left in 2026, counting today: 49. The market right now: –
Trading days by month
| Month | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| January | 20 | 19 |
| February | 19 | 19 |
| March | 22 | 22 |
| April | 21 | 22 |
| May | 20 | 20 |
| June | 21 | 21 |
| July | 22 | 21 |
| August | 21 | 22 |
| September | 21 | 21 |
| October | 22 | 21 |
| November | 20 | 21 |
| December | 22 | 22 |
| Total | 251 | 251 |
US stock market holidays
| Holiday | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| New Year’s Day | Thu, Jan 1 | Fri, Jan 1 |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Mon, Jan 19 | Mon, Jan 18 |
| Washington’s Birthday | Mon, Feb 16 | Mon, Feb 15 |
| Good Friday | Fri, Apr 3 | Fri, Mar 26 |
| Memorial Day | Mon, May 25 | Mon, May 31 |
| Juneteenth | Fri, Jun 19 | Fri, Jun 18 (observed) |
| Independence Day | Fri, Jul 3 (observed) | Mon, Jul 5 (observed) |
| Labor Day | Mon, Sep 7 | Mon, Sep 6 |
| Thanksgiving | Thu, Nov 26 | Thu, Nov 25 |
| Christmas | Fri, Dec 25 | Fri, Dec 24 (observed) |
Early closes at 1:00 PM ET: the day after Thanksgiving (November 27, 2026 and November 26, 2027) and Christmas Eve 2026 (December 24). On those days the bond market usually closes at 2:00 PM. More on Good Friday, MLK Day and what time the market closes.
Why finance uses 252 trading days
Most years have 251 or 252 trading days, so 252 became the standard. It’s used to annualize numbers measured per day: yearly volatility is daily volatility times the square root of 252 (about 15.9), so a stock that moves 1% a day on average has a yearly volatility of about 16%. See Tesla’s implied volatility for that math in practice.
Other markets
- Futures on CME Globex trade nearly 24 hours, Sunday evening to Friday afternoon, with shorter hours on most US holidays. See CME trading hours.
- Forex and spot gold trade around the clock on weekdays, about 260 days a year. See when the gold market opens.
- Crypto trades every day of the year: 365 days, 366 in a leap year.
Sources
Education, not financial advice. Counts from NYSE’s published 2026 and 2027 calendars. See our disclaimer.
