I’ve just put together a schedule of US stock market opening hours to share with everyone, so you don’t have to look them up every time.

The US stock market is open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM (U.S. Eastern Time). These are regular trading hours. But if you’re trading US stocks from within China, you need to factor in the time difference. Right now it’s during daylight saving time: the US market opens at 9:30 PM Beijing time and stays open until 4:00 AM the next day, when it closes. During standard time, shift it back by one hour—so it becomes 10:30 PM.

In addition to regular trading hours, there are pre-market trading hours (4:00 AM to 9:30 AM) and after-hours trading (4:00 PM to 8:00 PM). Liquidity during these periods is worse, and spreads are wider as well, so beginners are best off trading during regular hours.

The main US stock markets are the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and the American Stock Exchange—three exchanges that operate independently, but they have the same opening and closing times. Trading is all priced in US dollars, and the minimum unit is 1 share. After a trade is executed, you can only receive the funds T+3.

Also note that the US switches between daylight saving time and standard time. Every year, daylight saving time starts at 2:00 AM on the second Sunday of March, when the clocks are set forward by 1 hour. Standard time returns at 2:00 AM on the first Sunday of November, when the clocks are set back by 1 hour. Asia does not make this adjustment, so every time the change happens, investors in China have to recalculate the time difference, which is easy to get mixed up.

There are also many market holidays throughout the year when the US stock market is closed—mainly US statutory holidays, such as New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Around Independence Day, there may also be early market closures. Before you trade on a normal day, it’s best to check whether the market is closed that day, so you don’t waste time waiting.

If you want to trade US stocks, you can do it through a contract for difference (CFD) platform. It supports two-way trading and lets you use leverage, with a relatively low entry threshold—you can start with 50 US dollars. But leverage is a double-edged sword that magnifies risk too, so you need to have take-profit and stop-loss measures in place.

By the way, besides US stocks, you can also pay attention to other major stock markets. Japan’s Tokyo Stock Exchange is open from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM (domestic time in China: 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM). The London Stock Exchange is open from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM (domestic time in China: 4:00 PM to 12:30 AM). If you want to build a global investment portfolio, remember these trading times.