Do Futures Trade on Weekends? Learn Which Markets Have Weekend Trading

US Futures Trading Hours

You can’t trade US futures through the entire weekend, but you can trade them until 5 pm Eastern Time (EST) on Friday, and then you start many futures contracts again at 5 pm EST on Sunday.

This means that, technically, you can start trading them on the weekend. There is usually less volume on Sunday evening than there would be on a Monday afternoon, for example, when all the US banks and trading firms are open.

Australia and Japan are open for business on Sunday evening (EST) which means there are some global banks and trading firms trading futures at that time. The European markets open next, providing more liquidity for futures in the early Monday morning hours. Then, the US market opens — and that is when you typically see the highest volume in futures contracts.

Between 5 pm EST Sunday to 5 pm EST on Friday is a general guideline for when you can trade futures, but remember that each futures contract has its own hours.

Trading Hours of Specific Futures Contracts

Different futures contracts have different trading hours. There are also different futures exchanges operating within the US, so hours may differ between exchanges.

The two main futures exchanges in the US are the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Some futures also trade on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE).

CBOE Futures Hours

Most CBOE futures begin trading at 5 pm or 6 pm EST on Sunday, and then close at 5 pm on Friday. Depending on the specific contract being traded, these times can vary by up to an hour, and may differ on holidays. See the CBOE Futures Hours page for current trading hours.

VIX (VX) and VIX Mini (VXM) futures trade from 5pm EST until 5 pm EST. There is a break during the week until 5:45 pm, and trading starts on Sunday at 5pm EST (pre-open, with regular open at 6 pm). Note the chart below is Central Time, which is one hour behind EST.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange Futures Hours

This is where a large number of commonly traded futures contracts trade. Many CME futures contracts open at 6 pm EST on Sunday. The markets then close at 5 pm EST on Friday.

During the week (not Sunday) there is a 45- to 60-minute break each day between 5:00 pm and 5:45 or 6:00 pm EST. These hours cover the most heavily traded futures contract, including the S&P 500 E-Minis, crude oil, t-note futures, eurodollar futures, and fed funds futures.

Agricultural futures may have similar trading times, but they often have more breaks throughout the day. CME provides their trading hours on all products on their CME Trading Hours page, where it lists the trading hours of more than 1,300 futures contracts.

Intercontinental Exchange Futures Hours

The “ICE” exchange offers futures contracts on various markets around the world, which means you have nearly endless choices if you want to trade futures with ICE. With thousands of contracts, each will have its own unique trading hours.

All futures trade 24 hours a day, Sunday through Friday, except for the maintenance window where trading is temporarily halted and then resumes at a set time each day.

Many US futures trade from 7:30 (or 7:40/45) pm EST until 6 pm EST. That means futures open on Sunday at 7:30/40/45 pm EST and close on Friday at 6 pm EST. During the week, trading stops at 6 pm until it reopens at 7:30/40/45 pm.

Many currency futures trade between 7:30 pm EST and 5pm. Trading starts at 7:30 pm EST on Sunday, and at 5 pm during the week, there is a pause until trading resumes at 7:30.

Each agricultural commodity tends to have different trading hours. Here is a sample:

To see the trading hours for the specific contract you are interested in, see the ICE Product Guide. Narrow down the list by selecting the products you want to view.

Which Markets Trade 24 Hours a Day?

There are a number of markets that trade 24 hours per day on Sunday and through the weekends. These include some ETFs, futures, cryptocurrency, and forex.

As already discussed, futures often begin trading on Sunday evening (in the US) and futures continue to trade until Sunday afternoon/evening.

Forex operates the same way. Trading generally starts at 5 pm EST on Sunday evening and trading continues until 5 pm on Friday. This progression can be seen on the chart below, as Sydney is the first major market to open on Sunday at 5 pm EST. New York is the last market to close on Friday at 5 pm EST.

Cryptocurrencies trade around the clock as well, even on weekends. I’ll discuss that a bit more in the next section. Interactive Brokers offers 24-hour trading on a select number of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). This is a break for the norm, as stocks and ETFs aren’t typically available for 24-hour trading.

Which Markets Trade on Weekends?

If you want to trade on weekends, there are only a couple of choices, as not many financial markets are open on weekends.

The main market to trade on weekends is cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron, Tether, and all the others.  Since crypto trades don’t run through a centralized exchange, they can be traded through peer-to-peer networks anytime people want to trade. That is how most crypto brokers/exchanges are structured.

There is one other market which is open on weekends, and it is run by IG.com, a large forex and CFD broker. IG allows its users to trade select products during the weekend. You’re able to trade major stock indices, forex pairs, and crypto (which is available on weekends through most crypto platforms).

What are Stock and Options Trading Hours?

Stocks are only tradable for certain hours of the day, and so are options. Lets look at the hours you can trade these instruments.

Official stock market hours are 9:30 am EST until 4 pm EST. This is when the US stock exchanges are open. You can only trade most options during this time window, but there are some exceptions. CBOE offers nearly 24-hour options trading on SPX, VIX, and XSP options.

Stocks also have an “extended hours” session, which includes pre-market and after-hours trading. Pre-market trading starts as early as 4 am EST and progresses until the market officially opens at 9:30am EST.

Once the market closes at 4 pm EST, after hours trading can continue until 8 pm EST. Unless specified (though not usually) options are not traded during these extended hours.