I just found out that the Madrid Stock Exchange has been operating since 1831, almost 200 years! And the interesting thing is that most people don’t know what time the stock exchange actually closes. I’m telling you this because if you want to trade on the IBEX 35, you need to know these details.

The stock exchange opens at 9:00 am local time (CEST), but there is a pre-market auction from 8:30 am. The important thing is to know what time the stock exchange closes: 5:30 pm, although there is another closing auction until 5:35 pm. It operates from Monday to Friday, closed on weekends.

What surprised me is that in Spain, it’s not just one stock exchange but four coordinated ones (Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao) under SIBE since 1995. All handle the same hours. And well, if you work in Latin America, you need to calculate carefully because what time the Madrid stock exchange closes depends on your time zone. For Mexico, it’s 9:30 pm; for Buenos Aires, it’s 12:30 pm.

On that exchange, the heavyweights are listed: BBVA, Santander, Inditex. Companies with serious international projection. So if you’re interested in the Spanish market, you already know that the closing time is fixed at 5:30 pm. Be attentive because on holidays, the stock exchange is closed.