What Time Does the Stock Market Open?

The US stock market opens at 9:30 AM Eastern Time (ET), Monday through Friday. This applies to both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ — the two biggest stock exchanges in the United States.

If you're not on the East Coast, here's what 9:30 AM ET looks like in your time zone:

• Central Time: 8:30 AM
• Mountain Time: 7:30 AM
• Pacific Time: 6:30 AM
• Alaska Time: 5:30 AM
• Hawaii Time: 3:30 AM

Before the market officially opens at 9:30 AM, there's something called pre-market trading. This starts as early as 4:00 AM ET on most brokerages, though the busiest pre-market activity happens between 8:00 AM and 9:30 AM ET.

Pre-market trading lets you buy and sell stocks before the opening bell. It's worth knowing about, but most beginners stick to regular market hours because prices can be more unpredictable during pre-market.

Stock markets around the world open at different times. Here are a few major ones (shown in Eastern Time):

• London Stock Exchange: 3:00 AM ET (8:00 AM London time)
• Tokyo Stock Exchange: 7:00 PM ET the night before (9:00 AM Tokyo time)
• Hong Kong Exchange: 9:30 PM ET the night before (9:30 AM Hong Kong time)
• Australian Securities Exchange: 6:00 PM ET the night before (10:00 AM Sydney time)

This means that when you're sleeping in the US, markets in Asia and Europe are already trading. That's why you sometimes see news about "overseas markets" affecting US stocks before our market even opens.

No — the stock market is closed on weekends (Saturday and Sunday) and on certain holidays. There are about 9 holidays per year when US markets close completely.

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