Stock Market Trading Hours: What Time Is the Stock Market Open Today?

When does the stock market open? It's a simple question with more answers than you'd think.

Regular trading hours for the U.S. stock market, including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq), are 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time on weekdays (except stock market holidays). On early-closure days, typically right before or right after a market holiday, regular stock trading ends at 1 p.m. ET.

That's the easy part.

Thing is, trading also can occur outside of normal stock market hours. On days with a regular session, for instance, there is "pre-market" trading; while hours vary, they can extend as early as 4 a.m. and go through the market open at 9:30 a.m. Then there are "after-hours" sessions, which span from 4 to 8 p.m.

These trades are performed on "electronic communications networks," or ECNs, and directly pair buyers and sellers rather than using a middleman. While this kind of trading once was only accessible to large institutional buyers, today brokers such as Fidelity and Charles Schwab facilitate this kind of trading.

As for the weekends: There are no regular trading hours for stocks on Saturdays or Sundays. However, if you read a headline on a Sunday night saying that stock futures are down, that's because most futures contracts (including equity futures, but also oil, agricultural products, commodities and other investments) begin trading at 6 p.m. Eastern time on Sundays.