The first thing that people who really trade U.S. stocks a lot often miss is the time zone issue. At first, I didn’t properly understand that trading takes place from 11:30 PM to 6:00 AM in Korea, and then—because of daylight saving time—does it get pulled forward by another hour? I was like, what is this supposed to mean?

But it turns out that the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and the American Stock Exchange all move on the same time zone. Besides regular trading, there are also a pre-market and an after-market, so you need to know these times correctly to make use of them. The pre-market is open from 6:00 PM to 11:30 PM in Korean time, and the after-market is open from 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM the next day. When daylight saving time is applied, each of these sessions moves forward by one hour too, so you need to keep that in mind as well.

It’s also a good idea to check the 2026 U.S. stock market holiday schedule in advance. The 10 dates listed below are completely closed: January 1 (New Year’s Day), January 19 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), February 16 (Presidents’ Day), April 3 (Good Friday), May 25 (Memorial Day), June 19 (Juneteenth Day), July 3 (Independence Day), September 7 (Labor Day), November 26 (Thanksgiving Day), and December 25 (Christmas Day). And on July 2, November 27, and December 24, the market closes early at 1:00 PM (2:00 AM the next day in Korean time), so you should know that too.

Another important thing when trading U.S. stocks is that, unlike Korea, there are no price limit bands. Since you might not be able to respond quickly when the market drops sharply, you need to plan your trades carefully in advance. Settlement is completed 2 business days later, and of course trades are conducted in U.S. dollars. U.S. stock trading hours fall during Korea’s nighttime, so at first it may be hard to adapt, but once you get used to the pattern, there are actually plenty of advantages. You can handle work and investing alongside night trading. In any case, if you make sure you’ve thoroughly learned these basic details before entering the U.S. stock market, you can reduce mistakes later on.