How Many Trading Days Are in a Year?
A typical year has about 252 U.S. stock market trading days — the exact number varies between 250 and 253 depending on how weekends and holidays fall.
Trading Days in 2026
251Trading days by year (2024–2028)
| Year | Weekdays | Holidays | Early closes | Trading days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 262 | 10 | 3 | 252 |
| 2025 | 261 | 10 | 3 | 250 |
| 2026 | 261 | 10 | 2 | 251 |
| 2027 | 261 | 10 | 1 | 251 |
| 2028 | 260 | 9 | 2 | 251 |
Early-close sessions (1 p.m. ET) are counted as full trading days here, per the standard convention. Counting them as half days instead, 2026 has 250 trading days — the convention used by our live countdown. 2025 includes the unscheduled closure on 2025-01-09 (day of mourning for President Jimmy Carter).
Trading days per month in 2026
| Month | Trading days | Market holidays |
|---|---|---|
| January | 20 | New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day |
| February | 19 | Presidents' Day |
| March | 22 | — |
| April | 21 | Good Friday |
| May | 20 | Memorial Day |
| June | 21 | Juneteenth National Independence Day |
| July | 22 | Independence Day |
| August | 21 | — |
| September | 21 | Labor Day |
| October | 22 | — |
| November | 20 | Thanksgiving Day |
| December | 22 | Christmas Day |
Months average about 21 trading days. February is usually the shortest; months with no holidays and five full weeks reach 22–23.
How the math works
Start with the 365 (or 366) days in a year and remove the roughly 104 weekend days, leaving 261 weekdays in 2026. The NYSE and Nasdaq then observe 10 full market holidays that fall on weekdays, which brings the total to 251 trading days. Holidays that land on a Saturday are observed the Friday before; Sunday holidays are observed the following Monday.
The count shifts slightly year to year because of leap years, holidays falling on weekends (and dropping off the schedule), and where January 1 lands in the week. That is why the answer ranges from 250 to 253 rather than being a fixed number.
Which days are markets closed?
U.S. equity markets close for New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. In addition, a few sessions close early at 1 p.m. ET — typically July 3, the day after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve, when they fall on a weekday.