Market hours, holidays and the dates that matter
The top bar on every page shows whether the US stock market is open. The overview also lists the dates ahead: holidays, early closes and Federal Reserve decisions. Here is what each of them means and why it affects the numbers you see.
Regular hours
The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq hold their regular session from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday. The official closing price, the one used for "1D" changes on Market Check, is set at the end of that session.
Pre-market and after-hours
Trading also happens outside regular hours: pre-market from 4:00 a.m. and after-hours until 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Far fewer shares change hands in these sessions, so prices can jump on small trades and the gap between buy and sell prices is usually wider. Company results are often released just before the open or just after the close, so big moves frequently show up first in extended hours.
Different apps treat extended-hours prices differently, which is one reason figures can disagree. See how price changes are measured.
Holidays and early closes
US exchanges close for a set of public holidays each year, such as New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. On a few days, usually around Independence Day, the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, they close early at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. Market Check works these out from the exchanges' published rules, so the calendar keeps working year after year. A rare unscheduled closure would not show until the site is updated.
Federal Reserve decision days
The Federal Open Market Committee, part of the US Federal Reserve, meets eight times a year to set its target for short-term interest rates. The decision is published on the last day of each meeting, in the afternoon Eastern time, followed by a press conference. Interest rates affect borrowing costs, company valuations and currencies, so these afternoons are often among the busiest of the month. The dates on Market Check come from the Federal Reserve's published calendar.
Options expiration
Standard monthly stock and index options expire on the third Friday of each month. In March, June, September and December, several kinds of contract expire together, sometimes called "quarterly expiration". Trading volume often rises on these days as positions are closed or rolled over. It is a scheduling fact, not a prediction of which way prices will go.
Crypto never closes
Cryptocurrencies trade 24 hours a day, every day, including weekends and holidays. That is why coins on Market Check keep updating at night while stock tiles sit still, and why crypto uses rolling windows (24h, 7d) instead of "today". It also means big crypto moves can happen at hours when most people are asleep, and that weekend crypto moves sometimes show up in crypto-related stocks on Monday morning.
Gold, silver and oil
The commodity tiles follow futures markets, which trade nearly around the clock from Sunday evening to Friday afternoon (US time), with a short daily break. They pause at weekends, so like stocks they can open with a gap on Sunday evening.
Nothing here is financial advice. Exchange and Federal Reserve schedules can change; the exchanges' and the Fed's own websites are the authority.
Related: How price changes are measured · Stocks, ETFs and indexes · All guides