Published on: 2025-12-29
New Year's trading is one of those calendar quirks that catches people out every year. If you are planning trades around the end of the year, the schedule matters more than most people think, because liquidity gets thin, spreads widen, and even small headlines can move prices faster than usual.
The short answer for the U.S. market is clear for the 2025-2026 period.
The U.S. stock market is open on New Year's Eve, which falls on Wednesday, December 31, 2025, and it is scheduled to run normal trading hours.
The U.S. stock market is closed on New Year's Day, which falls on Thursday, January 1, 2026.
The article below explains the exact hours, what changes for bonds, how after-hours trading fits in, and what a trader should expect from the tape during a holiday week.
U.S. Stock Market Hours for New Year's Eve 2025
In U.S. equities, New Year's Eve is not an early-close session in 2025 and the stock market is scheduled to trade a full day on Wednesday, December 31, 2025.
| Market | Date | Status | Regular session (ET) |
|---|---|---|---|
| NYSE / Nasdaq | Wed, 31 Dec 2025 | Open (full day) | 9:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m. |
| NYSE / Nasdaq | Thu, 1 Jan 2026 | Closed | — |
Regular U.S. equity trading hours are typically:
9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET (regular session)
In short, December 31, 2025, is a regular trading session for U.S. stocks, even though it falls in a holiday week.
New Year's Day is a standard U.S. market holiday as confirmed by Nasdaq's published holiday schedule, which lists New Year's Day (January 1) as "Closed" for 2026.
Extended-hours trading usually continues on New Year's Eve, but you should expect lighter activity than a normal midweek session.
The extended hours are as follows:
Pre-market runs from 4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time
After-hours runs from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Even when extended hours are open, execution can be trickier around the holidays, because fewer participants are active and order books are thinner.
Stocks can trade normally on New Year's Eve, while bond trading often finishes early.
Thus, if you trade Treasury ETFs, corporate credit, bond futures, or any strategy that depends on rates and yield curves, you must keep tabs on the table below.
| Market | Date | Status | Time (ET) |
|---|---|---|---|
| US bonds (SIFMA guidance) | Wed, 31 Dec 2025 | Early close | 2:00 p.m. |
| US bonds | Thu, 1 Jan 2026 | Closed | — |
SIFMA’s recommended U.S. fixed-income holiday schedule calls for an early close at 2:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, December 31, 2025, ahead of New Year’s Day on Thursday, January 1, 2026.
Additionally, SIFMA lists Thursday, January 1, 2026, as the New Year's Day holiday (full close).
Important note: SIFMA issues recommendations, and firms can set their own hours, but SIFMA is the industry reference that most desks follow for U.S. fixed income.
Options trading generally adheres to the holiday calendar of the underlying stocks, but specific products may have different regulations and trading hours.
If you trade options actively, make it a habit to review your broker's holiday notice for any modified cutoffs, exercise deadlines, or reduced after-hours access.
ETFs trade like stocks when the stock market is open.
Mutual fund orders typically process at end-of-day NAV on trading days, but fund companies may impose earlier same-day cutoffs around holidays.
The practical point is that execution conditions often matter more than the posted schedule. On New Year's Eve, the market is open, but fewer participants are active.
A full session does not mean a fully normal session.
Many institutional desks are lightly staffed. That can widen spreads and exaggerate moves in:
small and mid caps
single stocks with less depth
certain options strike
Some participants are:
locking in year-end performance
tidying exposures
deferring decisions into January to avoid forced trades in thin liquidity
On a low-news day, markets often respond more to technical levels, flow dynamics, and dealer positioning than to macro headlines.
Thus, it is entirely possible to have a calm index day but sharp moves in individual names, or vice versa.
Prefer limit orders over market orders in less liquid stocks.
Reduce position sizes if spreads look wide.
Treat the first hour and last hour as the most "real" liquidity windows.
Avoid large market-on-close orders unless you are comfortable with holiday liquidity.
If you must rebalance, consider splitting orders across time rather than forcing a single print.
Keep in mind that the bond market closes early at 2:00 p.m. ET, which can alter cross-asset dynamics when the equity market closes.
That early bond close can reduce rate-driven signals late in the day, and it can make equity moves feel less "anchored" than usual.
Yes. In the final week of 2025, major U.S. stock exchanges are scheduled to trade a full session on Wednesday, December 31, 2025.
No. U.S. stock markets are closed on Thursday, January 1 2026, for New Year's Day.
Yes, typically. SIFMA's recommended schedule lists an early close at 2:00 p.m. ET on 31 December 2025.
In conclusion, the schedule is straightforward:
New Year's Eve 2025 is a full stock-market session
New Year's Day 2026 is a full closure.
The nuance is in fixed income, with bonds typically closing early at 2:00 p.m. ET on December 31, which can shift the tone of afternoon trading.
Disclaimer: This material is for general information purposes only and is not intended as (and should not be considered to be) financial, investment or other advice on which reliance should be placed. No opinion given in the material constitutes a recommendation by EBC or the author that any particular investment, security, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person.
