Recently, friends who want to trade US stocks asked me what time the US stock market opens, so I went ahead and compiled a detailed timetable to share with everyone. The opening time of the US stock market is actually easy to remember: it’s from 9:30 to 16:00 Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. But the key is that investors in China need to get the time difference right—this will also change depending on whether the US is observing daylight saving time or standard time.

If you convert the US stock market opening time to Beijing time, during daylight saving time it is 21:30 to 04:00 at night, and during standard time it shifts one hour later to 22:30 to 05:00. So if you want to trade during the US stock market opening hours, you basically have to stay up late. However, there is also pre-market and after-hours trading in the US. Pre-market is 04:00-09:30, and after-hours is 16:00-20:00—this is relatively more friendly for Asian investors.

There are three main stock exchanges in the US: the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest, Nasdaq is the second largest and is mostly focused on tech stocks, and there’s also the American Stock Exchange. Although each exchange operates independently, their opening times are synchronized. Also, be sure to pay attention to the US market closures. Important holidays such as Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas will all be market holidays, and on some days the market will even close three hours early—so don’t fall into a trap.

There’s also an interesting change: NYSE Arca, the fully electronic exchange under the NYSE, has plans to extend trading hours to 22 hours on each business day. If that happens, it would give Asian investors more trading windows, but this proposal is still awaiting approval. Overall, understanding US stock market opening times and converting for time zones is very important for investors in China, so you can catch the trading opportunities.