---
title: "How Many Trading Days Are in a Year? (2026 & 2027)"
description: "The US stock market has 251 trading days in 2026 and 251 in 2027. Forex counts differently. Full holiday lists, month-by-month counts and sources."
url: "https://getfundednow.com/guides/trading-days-in-a-year"
language: "en"
last_modified: "2026-09-22"
publisher: "Get Funded Now (getfundednow.com)"
translations:
  es: "https://getfundednow.com/es/guides/trading-days-in-a-year"
  pt-BR: "https://getfundednow.com/pt-br/guides/trading-days-in-a-year"
  fr: "https://getfundednow.com/fr/guides/trading-days-in-a-year"
  it: "https://getfundednow.com/it/guides/trading-days-in-a-year"
  de: "https://getfundednow.com/de/guides/trading-days-in-a-year"
disclosure: "All trading at Get Funded Now is simulated. 'Funded' means a simulated or virtual account; GFN is not a broker and does not hold client funds."
---

Markets and calendars

# How many trading days are in a year?

The US stock market has 251 trading days in 2026 and 251 in 2027: 261 weekdays each year, minus 10 exchange holidays. Half-day sessions still count. Spot forex has no exchange calendar and trades around the clock on weekdays, so its count is the weekday count. Futures count by trade date, which varies by contract.

By the Get Funded Now team Published September 22, 2026 Last reviewed September 22, 2026 6 min read

Contents

1. How many trading days are there, by market?
2. What are the US stock market holidays in 2026?
3. What are the US stock market holidays in 2027?
4. How many trading days are in a month?
5. How many days a year does forex trade?
6. How do futures trading days work?
7. Why do people say there are 252 trading days?
8. What does this mean on a GFN account?
9. Questions
10. Sources

## How many trading days are there, by market?

"Trading day" means something different depending on what you trade. Stocks trade on an exchange with a published holiday calendar. Spot forex has no central exchange at all. Futures trade on an exchange, but most US holidays shorten the session rather than cancel it^[4].

**Trading days by market**

| Market | 2026 | 2027 | What sets the count |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| US stocks (NYSE) | 251 | 251 | The exchange holiday calendar^[1] |
| Spot forex | 261 weekdays | 261 weekdays | No exchange; each provider publishes its own holiday hours^[3] |
| Futures (CME Globex) | By contract | By contract | Trade dates and holiday sessions per product^[4] |

Both years have 261 weekdays and 104 weekend days. Subtract NYSE's 10 full-closure holidays and you get 251. Early-close days are sessions, so they stay in the count.

## What are the US stock market holidays in 2026?

**NYSE full closures, 2026**

| Date | Day | Holiday |
| --- | --- | --- |
| January 1 | Thursday | New Year's Day |
| January 19 | Monday | Martin Luther King, Jr. Day |
| February 16 | Monday | Washington's Birthday |
| April 3 | Friday | Good Friday |
| May 25 | Monday | Memorial Day |
| June 19 | Friday | Juneteenth |
| July 3 | Friday | Independence Day (observed - falls on a Saturday) |
| September 7 | Monday | Labor Day |
| November 26 | Thursday | Thanksgiving Day |
| December 25 | Friday | Christmas Day |

Source: NYSE^[1]. Nasdaq's 2026 schedule lists the same ten closures^[2].

**Early closes, 2026**

| Date | Day | Session |
| --- | --- | --- |
| November 27 | Friday | Day after Thanksgiving - closes 1:00 p.m. ET |
| December 24 | Thursday | Christmas Eve - closes 1:00 p.m. ET |

Both exchanges list these two early closes^[1]^[2].

Independence Day 2026 falls on a Saturday, so the market closes on Friday, July 3 instead. There is no early close before it^[1].

## What are the US stock market holidays in 2027?

**NYSE full closures, 2027**

| Date | Day | Holiday |
| --- | --- | --- |
| January 1 | Friday | New Year's Day |
| January 18 | Monday | Martin Luther King, Jr. Day |
| February 15 | Monday | Washington's Birthday |
| March 26 | Friday | Good Friday |
| May 31 | Monday | Memorial Day |
| June 18 | Friday | Juneteenth (observed - falls on a Saturday) |
| July 5 | Monday | Independence Day (observed - falls on a Sunday) |
| September 6 | Monday | Labor Day |
| November 25 | Thursday | Thanksgiving Day |
| December 24 | Friday | Christmas Day (observed - falls on a Saturday) |

Source: NYSE^[1].

**Early closes, 2027**

| Date | Day | Session |
| --- | --- | --- |
| November 26 | Friday | Day after Thanksgiving - closes 1:00 p.m. ET |

Source: NYSE^[1].

Three 2027 holidays land on a weekend and move: Juneteenth to Friday, June 18, Independence Day to Monday, July 5, and Christmas to Friday, December 24. New Year's Day 2028 falls on a Saturday, and NYSE observes no New Year's holiday for it - so Friday, December 31, 2027 is a normal trading day.^[1]

## How many trading days are in a month?

Between 19 and 22 across both years. The count moves with where weekends fall and which holidays land in the month.

**NYSE trading days by month**

| Month | 2026 | 2027 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| January | 20 | 19 |
| February | 19 | 19 |
| March | 22 | 22 |
| April | 21 | 22 |
| May | 20 | 20 |
| June | 21 | 21 |
| July | 22 | 21 |
| August | 21 | 22 |
| September | 21 | 21 |
| October | 22 | 21 |
| November | 20 | 21 |
| December | 22 | 22 |

Derived from the NYSE holiday calendar above^[1]: weekdays in the month, minus full closures. Totals: 251 and 251.

## How many days a year does forex trade?

Spot forex has no central exchange, so no single holiday calendar governs it. The weekly cycle runs 24 hours a day from Sunday 5:00 p.m. to Friday 5:00 p.m. New York time^[3]. That makes the count the number of weekdays: 261 in 2026 and 261 in 2027.

Instead, each provider publishes its own holiday hours. If yours suspends trading on Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the arithmetic changes:

**Forex weekdays, with and without the two year-end holidays**

| Year | Weekdays | Jan 1 | Dec 25 | If both are closed |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026 | 261 | Thursday | Friday | 259 |
| 2027 | 261 | Friday | Saturday | 260 |

A closure on a Saturday removes nothing, which is why 2027 loses only one day. This is arithmetic, not a schedule - check your provider's holiday notice.

## How do futures trading days work?

US futures on CME Globex trade almost around the clock: the week opens Sunday at 5:00 p.m. Central Time and closes Friday at 4:00 p.m. CT, with a 60-minute maintenance break each weekday afternoon^[4].

Holidays are where futures part company with stocks. On most US holidays, equity-index futures trade a shortened session with an early halt rather than closing. On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2026, for example, the halt is at noon Chicago time^[5]. Good Friday, April 3, 2026 is listed as a full closure^[4].

So there is no single number for futures. Each session belongs to a trade date, and whether a holiday produces a short session or no session depends on the product. If you need an exact count - for a backtest, say - count trade dates for the specific contract from CME Group's own holiday calendar.

## Why do people say there are 252 trading days?

252 is a convention, not the count for any particular year. A calendar year has 260, 261 or 262 weekdays depending on where the weekends fall, and the US market closes on 9 or 10 of them. That puts the real figure between 250 and 253, and 252 sits in the middle.

It is a fine constant for converting daily figures to annual ones. It is the wrong number for a question about a specific year: 2026 and 2027 both have 251.

## What does this mean on a GFN account?

GFN does not impose its own trading schedule. Hours follow each instrument and the liquidity in it, and public holidays can bring late opens, early closes or closures - see the [trading hours rules](https://getfundednow.com/rules/trading-hours).

- **No time limit** on any evaluation, so a short holiday month costs you nothing but calendar time. See [the time limit rule](https://getfundednow.com/rules/no-time-limit).
- **Minimum trading days apply only on the 2 Step.** You need 0.5% profit across at least 3 separate trading days. Instant and 1 Step have no minimum. See [the minimum trading days rule](https://getfundednow.com/rules/no-minimum-trading-days).
- **The payout cycle counts calendar days, not trading days.** Every 14 days, from the first trade on the funded account. See [how payouts work](https://getfundednow.com/payouts).

A payout cycle over Thanksgiving week

The 14-day clock does not stop for a holiday. Here is how many sessions a US-hours trader actually gets inside one cycle.

- **First funded trade**: Monday, November 16, 2026
- **Payout eligibility**: Monday, November 30 14 calendar days later.
- **Weekdays in the cycle**: 10
- **NYSE sessions in the cycle**: 9 Thanksgiving is a full closure; the next day closes at 1:00 p.m. ET.

The eligibility date is the same either way. What shrinks is the number of full US sessions available to trade inside the window - 9, one of them a half day. The daily loss limit still applies on every one of them: $5,000 on a $100,000 1 Step, or 5%.

## Questions

No. NYSE closes for Good Friday: April 3 in 2026 and March 26 in 2027.

Yes. An early close is a shortened session, not a closure, so it is included in the 251-day count. In 2026 the early closes are November 27 and December 24.

No. The spot forex week runs from Sunday 5:00 p.m. to Friday 5:00 p.m. New York time, and the market is closed in between.

From October 1, 2026, there are 64 NYSE trading days to the end of the year, including the two early-close sessions.

## Sources

1. [Holidays & Trading Hours](https://www.nyse.com/markets/hours-calendars) - New York Stock Exchange. Primary source. Retrieved Sep 22, 2026.Used for: The 2026, 2027 and 2028 holiday and early-close schedule, and the note on New Year's Day 2028.
2. [U.S. Equity and Options Markets Holiday Schedule](https://www.nasdaqtrader.com/trader.aspx?id=calendar) - Nasdaq Trader. Primary source. Retrieved Sep 22, 2026.Used for: Cross-check of the 2026 closures and early closes.
3. [Forex Market Hours](https://www.compareforexbrokers.com/us/market-hours/) - CompareForexBrokers (updated September 15, 2026). Secondary source. Retrieved Sep 22, 2026.Used for: The Sunday 5:00 p.m. to Friday 5:00 p.m. New York weekly cycle.
4. [CME Trading Hours 2026: Complete Holiday Schedule for Futures Traders](https://crosstrade.io/blog/cme-trading-hours-2026) - CrossTrade. Secondary source. Retrieved Sep 22, 2026.Used for: Standard Globex weekly hours, and Good Friday 2026 as the one full closure.
5. [US Martin Luther King Day Holiday Trading Schedule (2026)](https://www.ampfutures.com/news/holiday-trading-schedule-martin-luther-king-day) - AMP Futures. Secondary source. Retrieved Sep 22, 2026.Used for: The noon Chicago early halt on January 19, 2026.

GFN figures on this page are generated from the published pricing and rules data, not restated by hand.

## Related reading

- [Trading hours rules →](https://getfundednow.com/rules/trading-hours)
- [No minimum trading days →](https://getfundednow.com/rules/no-minimum-trading-days)
- [How GFN payouts work →](https://getfundednow.com/payouts)
- [What is a funded account? →](https://getfundednow.com/guides/what-is-a-funded-account)

---

Source: https://getfundednow.com/guides/trading-days-in-a-year
Facts about Get Funded Now in one file: https://getfundednow.com/llms.txt