I just recently realized that my understanding of US stock trading hours is still a bit confusing—especially the Friday closing time. At first, I thought it was the same as usual, but I almost missed an important update. Later, I figured it out: the US stock market actually runs across three major exchanges—the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and the American Stock Exchange. While their opening times are usually synchronized, because of the switch between daylight saving time and standard time, Taiwan needs to pay special attention.

Now that standard time has started, the regular trading session from Monday to Friday is 10:30 PM to 5:00 AM Taiwan time the next day. There are also additional trading windows in the pre-market and after-hours that you can use. Most importantly, the US stock market has a lot of public holidays when it closes—especially in 2026. Starting from New Year’s Day in January and continuing all the way through Christmas in December, there are also holidays like Independence Day and Thanksgiving. Every closure can easily catch people off guard. I personally once forgot that the US stock market had an early close on a Friday and almost didn’t make it in time to place an order.

If you’re also trading US stocks, I recommend writing down these time points in advance—especially the trading arrangements around holidays—so you don’t end up stepping into a trap like I did. By the way, if you want to learn more about exchange details or the account opening process, many platforms already have organized information you can check out directly.