Futures Market Hours and Holiday Schedule

Futures trade nearly around the clock, but the exact hours depend on the asset class, and US holidays can shorten or cancel sessions. This lesson gives the regular CME Globex hours for the most traded futures in Eastern Time, explains the daily maintenance break and Sunday open, and shows how to read CME's holiday schedule. All hours below were checked against CME Group's own published documents.

Key points

• CME Group publishes trading hours in US Central Time (CT). Eastern Time (ET) is always one hour later.
• Equity index, energy, metals and Treasury futures trade on CME Globex from Sunday 6:00 p.m. ET to Friday 5:00 p.m. ET.
• Those markets stop for a 60-minute maintenance break each day from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET (4:00 to 5:00 p.m. CT).
• Grain futures (corn, soybeans, wheat) trade two shorter sessions instead of nearly 24 hours.
• On many US holidays, Globex halts early and reopens in the evening for the next trade date. Some holidays close markets completely.
• CME finalizes holiday hours about two weeks before each holiday. Check its Holiday and Trading Hours page every time.

Central Time vs Eastern Time

CME is based in Chicago, so its specifications and holiday notices use Central Time. Chicago and New York change clocks for daylight saving time on the same dates, so the gap is always one hour. 5:00 p.m. CT is 6:00 p.m. ET. Your trading platform may show exchange time, local time or a time zone you choose, so check its settings.

Regular CME Globex hours

Sources: CME Group's Micro E-mini futures fact card and equity index sector futures overview (equity index); Micro WTI Crude Oil fact card and SER 9811R (energy); gold futures fact card (metals); CME's Micro Treasury futures article, which gives the hours for its Micro Treasury contracts (interest rates); CME's article on FX futures and the daily close (FX); and CME's grain and oilseed futures fact card (grains). Individual contracts can differ, so confirm on each contract's CME spec page. Our contract guides link to them.

Worked example: converting a grain session

CME lists the corn day session as 8:30 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. CT. Add one hour: 9:30 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. ET. Corn settlement is listed at 1:15 p.m. CT, which is 2:15 p.m. ET. Between 8:45 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. ET, and from 2:20 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET, corn futures do not trade.

The Sunday open and Friday close

For the nearly 24-hour markets, the trading week opens Sunday at 6:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m. CT) and ends Friday at 5:00 p.m. ET (4:00 p.m. CT). CME also runs a pre-open period before the open, in which orders can be entered but nothing matches. For Micro WTI crude oil options, for example, CME lists the pre-open as Sunday 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. CT and Monday to Thursday 4:45 to 5:00 p.m. CT.

Prices on Sunday evening can open far from Friday's close if news broke over the weekend. A stop order fills at the first available price, not at your stop level.

Worked example: a Sunday gap

You hold 2 MES long over the weekend with a stop 4 points below Friday's close. Sunday opens 12 points lower. Instead of losing 4 × $5 × 2 = $40, you lose about 12 × $5 × 2 = $120.

The daily maintenance break

From Monday to Thursday, most Globex futures pause for 60 minutes starting at 5:00 p.m. ET. During this time nothing trades. The session that reopens at 6:00 p.m. ET belongs to the next trade date, so a trade at 7:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday counts toward Wednesday. This matters for daily loss limits at prop firms and for brokers' day-trade margin cut-offs, which are tied to the trading day, not the calendar day.

Markets that trade 24/7

CME also offers some products around the clock, seven days a week. Its 24/7 trading page lists all cryptocurrency futures and options (excluding Spot-Quoted futures) and 1-Ounce Gold futures. These are separate contracts from the standard GC and MGC gold futures above. See CME's 24/7 trading page for the current list.

How US holidays affect trading

US federal and market holidays change the Globex schedule. The general pattern is:

• Early halt, evening reopen: on many holidays, Globex trades overnight into the holiday, halts early, then reopens in the evening for the next trade date.
• Different times by asset class: equity index, interest rate, energy, metals, FX and grain futures often halt at different times on the same holiday.
• Early closes around holidays: the day before or after a holiday, such as the Friday after Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve, can have an early close.
• Some full closures: some holidays have no trading for some or all products.

Example from CME's schedule: Presidents Day 2023

CME's holiday table for Monday, February 20, 2023 showed equity index and interest rate futures halting at 12:00 p.m. CT (1:00 p.m. ET), energy and metals futures halting at 1:30 p.m. CT (2:30 p.m. ET), and FX futures at 4:00 p.m. CT. These products reopened at 5:00 p.m. CT (6:00 p.m. ET), and the Monday session was cleared under Tuesday's trade date. Grain futures followed their own schedule. This is a past example to show the pattern. Each holiday's times can differ.

2026 holidays on CME's calendar

CME's Holiday and Trading Hours page lists 2026 schedules for New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day (observed Friday, July 3), Labor Day, Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 26) and Christmas (Friday, December 25). For the rest of 2026, the page shows:

• Thanksgiving: a Globex holiday schedule covering November 26 to 28, 2026, with the Chicago trading floor closed on November 26 and closing at 12:00 p.m. CT on Friday, November 27.
• Christmas: a Globex holiday schedule covering December 24 to 26, 2026, with the trading floor closing at 12:00 p.m. CT on Thursday, December 24. CME's notes also list early closes for some trade-at-settlement (TAS) contracts on December 23.

The exact Globex halt and reopen times for each product are in the holiday schedule files linked from that page. CME says trading hours are usually finalized about two weeks before each holiday and that its holiday schedules take input from the NYSE and SIFMA. Always check CME's Holiday and Trading Hours page before trading around a holiday.

What holidays mean for your trading

• Thin markets: holiday sessions often have lower volume, wider spreads and more slippage.
• Gaps: an early halt followed by an evening reopen can create a gap, like a short weekend.
• Broker and prop firm rules: brokers may change day-trade margin around holidays, and prop firms may count a holiday session differently. Check your broker's notices, such as those from NinjaTrader or Tradovate, and your firm's rules.
• Open orders: CME's holiday notes explain that when a market closes, day orders are removed. Check that your stops are still working after a holiday halt.

Add holiday dates to your trading plan, and use the position size calculator to reduce size if you trade a thin session.

Next lesson

Keep the reference lesson handy for any term you meet along the way: Futures Trading Glossary.

Frequently asked questions

What time do ES futures open on Sunday?

6:00 p.m. ET (5:00 p.m. CT), according to CME's published hours for its equity index futures.

Why does CME list hours in Central Time?

CME Group is headquartered in Chicago. Its notices state that hours are in US Central Time unless otherwise stated. Add one hour for Eastern Time.

Do futures trade on Thanksgiving?

CME publishes a special holiday schedule for Thanksgiving, with early halts on some products and early closes the next day. Check CME's holiday page for the exact times for your contract.

Why do grain futures have different hours?

Grain futures keep two sessions: an evening and overnight session and a daytime session, with breaks between them. CME lists them as 7:00 p.m. to 7:45 a.m. CT and 8:30 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. CT.

Is there trading during the 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET break?

No. Most CME Globex futures stop trading for this daily maintenance period from Monday to Thursday, and the week ends at 5:00 p.m. ET on Friday.