Stock Market Black Friday Hours: Closed on Thanksgiving, Then Open Until 1 p.m. ET

By Stock Titan Editorial Team Published October 30, 2026, 11:42 AM EDT

Stock market Black Friday hours

“Each market will close early at 1:00 p.m. (1:15 p.m. for eligible options) on Friday, November 27, 2026,” the New York Stock Exchange says on its holidays and trading hours page. Nasdaq lists the same 1:00 p.m. early close on its holiday schedule, so the two big US stock exchanges keep the same short day.

That leaves a regular session of three and a half hours instead of six and a half. The closing auction, where the official closing price of each stock is set, moves up with it. On Nasdaq’s early close after Thanksgiving 2025, the closing cross, its name for that auction, ran at 1:00 p.m. instead of 4:00 p.m., by its trader alert. Its imbalance notices, which show the orders still waiting for a match before the close, started at 12:55 p.m.

For the normal sessions on any other day, StockTitan’s guide to US stock market hours and trading sessions walks through pre-market, the regular session and after hours one by one.

Is the stock market open on Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving Day is one of the ten holidays written into NYSE Rule 7.2. It falls on the fourth Thursday of November, November 26 in 2026 and November 25 in 2027, on the federal holiday calendar kept by the Office of Personnel Management. SIFMA, the securities industry group whose calendar the bond market follows, recommends a full close the same day.

The day before is untouched. Neither the NYSE nor Nasdaq lists an early close for Wednesday, November 25, and SIFMA lists none for bonds. So it is a normal 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. session, with after hours to follow.

After-hours trading on Black Friday

“NYSE American Equities, NYSE Arca Equities, NYSE National, and NYSE Texas late trading sessions will close at 5:00 p.m.,” the NYSE’s note for November 27, 2026 reads. On a normal day those late sessions run until 8:00 p.m. (the same NYSE page lists them), so on Black Friday they end three hours earlier than usual.

Nasdaq publishes its exact system times for each early close in a trader alert, and its 2026 alert archive had no Thanksgiving notice yet on October 30. In its alerts for the early closes of November 29, 2024, November 28, 2025 and December 24, 2025, the Nasdaq extended session ended at 5:00 p.m. instead of 8:00 p.m. Its smaller BX and PSX markets ended earlier still, as the table shows.

The exchange’s hours are only the outer limit. Nasdaq’s own page says “Certain brokers have different pre-market and after hours trading times.” FINRA, the brokers’ regulator, notes that a firm might take only limit orders (orders with a set price) after hours, or might not offer after-hours trading at all. It also warns that after-hours trading is less liquid, meaning fewer buyers and sellers, so an order can fill partly, at a worse price or not at all.

Options and the bond market on Black Friday

The NYSE gives “1:15 p.m. for eligible options” on November 27, 2026. Nasdaq’s 2025 alert spells it out by market. Equity options on Nasdaq PHLX closed at 1:00 p.m. Equity and sector index options on Nasdaq ISE, and options on indexes and exchange-traded funds, closed at 1:15 p.m. On a normal day, Nasdaq’s holiday and trading hours sheet lists options on SPY, QQQ, IWM, NDX and other funds and indexes that trade until 4:15 p.m. instead of 4:00 p.m.

The bond market has no exchange bell. It follows SIFMA’s schedule, which gives an early close at 2:00 p.m. ET on November 27, 2026 for Treasuries, mortgage bonds, corporate and municipal bonds and short-term money market paper. SIFMA’s December 2025 release calls these “recommendations only” and says each firm decides for itself whether its bond desk stays open. When SIFMA trimmed its early closes in 2009, it kept the one after Thanksgiving, citing “very limited global activity late on those days.”

How busy is the stock market on Black Friday?

By the clock, the half day’s regular session is three and a half of the usual six and a half hours, 54% of a normal day. SPY’s 42% median volume is a smaller share than that. The daily volume in StockTitan’s price data can include trades outside the regular session, so the two figures give no hourly rate.

In 12 of the 16 years, SPY volume came in under 60% of its recent daily average. Invesco’s QQQ, the Nasdaq-100 fund, was quieter still, with a median of 34%.

The one real exception was November 26, 2021, when SPY traded about twice its usual volume. On the same day, the World Health Organization designated the B.1.1.529 coronavirus variant a variant of concern and named it Omicron; no source ties the two. A half day is short by the clock, and it can still be a busy one.

The five busiest years outside 2021, between 55% and 68%, were 2013, 2014, 2019, 2024 and 2025. Each of those Black Fridays was also the last trading day of November, and we read the extra volume as month-end trading, a link no exchange states.

November 27, 2026 is not a month end, since Monday, November 30 is a trading day. In the 11 years like it, 2021 included, SPY’s median was 37%, against 65% in the five month-end years; those are past figures and settle nothing about 2026.

Show the data

Category	Value
2010	40%
2011	40%
2012	44%
2013	56%
2014	65%
2015	37%
2016	37%
2017	45%
2018	37%
2019	68%
2020	35%
2021	204%
2022	35%
2023	37%
2024	65%
2025	55%

Orders and settlement in Thanksgiving week

The exchanges set when each session stops. Whether an order still open at that moment lapses, waits for the next session or can trade after hours depends on the instructions it carries and on the broker. For after-hours orders, FINRA says firms differ on whether an unfilled order is cancelled or carried over to the regular session.

Settlement is the day the cash and the shares actually change hands. Under the T+1 rule the SEC set for most trades from May 28, 2024, it comes one business day after the trade, and Thanksgiving is not a business day. For bonds, SIFMA says its early closes do not affect the closing time for settlements.

Stock market holidays left in 2026

Counting from Monday, November 2, the stock market has 42 trading sessions left in 2026, and two of them are half days. Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11, splits the markets the other way, since stocks trade normally and the bond market is closed, a full close SIFMA confirmed on October 28.

December 24 follows the Black Friday pattern. The NYSE’s note gives stocks until 1:00 p.m., eligible options until 1:15 p.m. and its late sessions until 5:00 p.m., and SIFMA gives bonds until 2:00 p.m. Markets reopen on Monday, December 28, and close again for New Year’s Day, Friday, January 1, 2027. StockTitan’s 2026 holiday calendar holds the full year, including the dates already behind us.

Show the data

Date	Event
Nov 11	Veterans Day: stocks open for a full session; bonds closed.
Nov 26	Thanksgiving: stocks and bonds closed.
Nov 27	Black Friday: regular stock session closes at 1:00 p.m.; bonds close at 2:00 p.m.
Dec 24	Christmas Eve: regular stock session closes at 1:00 p.m.; bonds close at 2:00 p.m.
Dec 25	Christmas Day: stocks and bonds closed.
Dec 31	New Year’s Eve: stocks open for a full session; bonds close at 2:00 p.m.
Jan 1, 2027	New Year’s Day: stocks and bonds closed.

Stock market holidays 2027

Three of 2027’s holidays fall on a weekend, and the NYSE rule moves them. When a holiday lands on a Saturday the exchange closes the Friday before, and when it lands on a Sunday it closes the Monday after. That puts Juneteenth on Friday, June 18, Independence Day on Monday, July 5, and Christmas on Friday, December 24, which is why 2027 has no Christmas Eve half day.

New Year’s Day 2028 is the odd one. It falls on a Saturday, yet the exchange will not close on Friday, December 31, 2027, and the NYSE’s list says “no New Year’s Day holiday is observed.” Rule 7.2 makes an exception for “unusual business conditions,” such as “the ending of a monthly or yearly accounting period,” and the market traded the same way on Friday, December 31, 2021, by StockTitan’s daily price data. Federal offices will be closed that Friday, the federal New Year’s holiday on the OPM list, and SIFMA recommends that bonds stop at 2:00 p.m.

Bonds keep a busier holiday calendar in 2027, with 12 full closes and six early closes, against 10 and one for stocks. The extra two are Columbus Day, October 11, and Veterans Day, November 11. Good Friday, March 26, closes both stocks and bonds, though it is not a federal holiday. Nasdaq had not posted its 2027 list as of October 30, 2026; the NYSE says all its markets observe the dates it lists.

Frequently asked questions

The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendation, or an endorsement of any particular investment strategy. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.

See more from StockTitan in Google Search and AI answers. Adds StockTitan as a preferred source · opens Google

Add on Google Not now