Most futures markets are open nearly 24 hours a day, six days a week—from Sunday at 6:00 pm ET to Friday at 5:00 pm ET—with a one-hour daily maintenance break. This near-continuous schedule lets futures traders react to overnight news, premarket economic reports, and global market events outside standard U.S. stock market hours.
How to trade futures after hours
Most futures markets trade nearly 24/6, from Sunday at 6:00 pm ET to Friday at 5:00 pm ET. Compared to stock and ETF traders’ relatively shorter trading sessions of only 6.5/5, futures traders have ample time to trade, giving them more trading flexibility and the freedom to manage positions almost any time of day.
For equity index traders, E-mini and Micro E-mini futures allow traders to participate in the same markets as Wall Street before and after the stock market’s relatively short trading session. Index traders can more effectively take advantage of events such as earnings releases, which occur outside of normal stock market trading hours.
Futures trading hours
Trading hours are set by the exchange that lists the contract. The most actively traded U.S. futures categories all run on the same CME Globex schedule.
| Contract categories | Exchange | Trading hours (ET) |
|---|---|---|
| Equity index, energy, metals, treasury | CME Globex | Sunday 6:00 pm – Friday 5:00 pm, with a one-hour daily maintenance break |
Some contracts within these categories follow longer schedules. Contracts listed on other exchanges keep their own hours—see ICE, Eurex, or Cboe.
U.S. futures markets traded worldwide
The nearly 24-hour trading access for U.S. futures attracts participants from across the globe. International traders regularly participate in the transparent and regulated futures marketplace with abundant trading opportunities every day. This includes categories like agriculture, crude oil, energy, equity index, interest rates, metals, real estate and weather.
U.S. equity markets are well-established economic barometers of the global economy and have an international following. Traders worldwide speculate the Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Russell indexes daily via E-mini and Micro E-mini futures.
Benefits of futures trading hours
Above all, the ability to trade almost any time of day provides significant convenience for futures traders. It can help traders find market opportunities, get comfortable with new trading software and analysis tools, and practice in a sim trading environment.
- Determine the best times of day to trade based on your schedule and market approach.
- Find the most appropriate markets to trade with ample time to analyze price and volume action.
- Practice paper trading nearly any time of day with sim trading and real-time market data.
FAQs on futures market hours
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