How Many Trading Days In a Year? Plan Your Trades for 2025

There will be around 251 trading days in 2025 in the US stock and forex market. Discover why understanding how many trading days in a year matters to you.

Do you know how many trading days are in a year? If you are a trader and don’t know the answer to this question, then there is a major problem.

Knowledge of trading days makes you decide when to trade and when to not. Traders can adjust their strategies, make informed trading decisions, and customize their plans based on them.

Being a reputable Broker, Beirman Capital wants our clients to have proper knowledge of the financial market. In this article, we will have a detailed overview of trading days considering different markets. So let’s get started.

What is a Trading Day?

A trading day is a day on which the financial market remains open so that traders can buy or sell the asset.

The financial market does not remain open on all calendar days. There are 365 days in a year. However, the market remains open for some days. These days are known as trading days.

How many Trading Days in a year?

The financial market generally stays closed on holidays and weekends, which reduces the total number of working days available for trading. In the year 2025, there will be around 251 trading days, excluding weekends and holidays.

So, how many trading days are in a year? The number 251 trading days per year is the approximate figure in major markets like the U.S. stock market. This figure represents the number of trading days in a year, excluding weekends and holidays. However, it differs depending on the country and market type. Let’s have a look at the trading days number respective to major markets:

How Many Days a Year Is the Stock Market Open ?

The stock market opens for a few hours a day from Monday through Friday, excluding weekends and official market holidays. Many traders often ask, “How many days a year is the stock market open?” or “How many stock trading days in a year?” The answer is essential for planning and executing trading strategies effectively.

In the United States, major stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) open from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern Time. These hours represent the core stock market trading session. However, traders also benefit from pre-market and after-hours trading, offering more flexibility to buy and sell outside regular hours.

How Many Days Is the Stock Market Open in a Year?

For the year 2025, the US stock market is expected to be open for approximately 251 trading days, factoring in 52 weekends and 10 official holidays. So if you’re wondering, “How many days is stock market open in a year?” or “How many days per year is the stock market open?” the answer is around 251 days.

January 1, 2025, Wednesday, New Year’s Day
January 20, 2025, Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day
February 17, 2025, Monday, President’s Day
May 26, 2025, Monday, Memorial Day
June 19, 2025, Thursday, Juneteenth Independence Day
July 4, 2025, Friday, Independence Day
September 1, 2025, Monday, Labor Day
November 27, 2025, Thursday, Thanksgiving
Day December 25, 2025, Thursday, Christmas Day

So if you’re calculating, “how many days stock market open in a year,” you start with the total number of days in a year (365), subtract 104 weekend days (52 weeks × 2), and subtract 10 public holidays. That leaves you with about 251 trading days.

How to Calculate Stock Days?

If you’re a beginner or looking to plan your trading calendar, you might wonder, “How to calculate stock days?” It’s simple:

Total days in a year: 365
Weekends (Saturdays & Sundays): 104 days
Market holidays: 10 days
Trading days = 365 – 104 – 10 = 251

This calculation gives you an accurate count of how many days the stock market is open a year. Keep in mind, the exact number might vary slightly depending on leap years or additional holiday observances, but 251 days is the commonly accepted average.

Whether you’re a seasoned trader or a beginner, knowing how many days a year is the stock market open gives you an edge. By staying updated on the stock trading calendar, you can align your strategies with market activity, liquidity, and volatility levels.

Forex Market:

The foreign exchange is a global market that operates 24 hours a day, from Monday through Friday. It has four sessions in London, New York, Tokyo, and Sydney. At any point in a day, at least one session remains, allowing traders to trade around the clock.

The forex trade day differ from currency pairs and their countries. From the US perspective, the number of trading days in forex is 252, quite similar to the US stock market. Even the market holidays lie on the same dates. So you can refer to the above holiday chart to find out when the market will remain closed.

Crypto Market:

Crypto is a decentralized market that remains open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Traders can even trade cryptocurrencies on weekends and major holidays.

It means that the crypto market operates 365 days in year. However, the liquidity and trading volume are comparatively low on weekends and holidays.

How to Determine Trading Days in a year

Determining how many trading days are in a year is quite easy. You just need to subtract the holidays and weekends from the total days to get the exact number.

For example, in the year 2025, the total days are 365, the number of holidays is 10, and the weekends are 104. So trading days are 252, {365-10-104}.

You can even use tools such as an economic calendar to determine trading days, holidays, and weekends. You can also change the time frame.

To do so, you just need to search the economic calendar on Google. Click on a trusted link and enter the time frame, such as year, week, or day, for which traders can select a specific date.

In one click, you will get information on influential events and holidays, including date, time, day, and importance. Economic calendars will give you more specific and clear data according to your requirements.

Best Time to Trade in a year

In all three financial markets, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are regarded as the best trading days in a week. The mid-days observe most activities in the financial market.

In the stock market, the days of November and March to July are considered ideal for trading. Meanwhile, in the forex market, the days of the month from January to May are considered best.

The above days and months are ideal because most traders are active during that time. It results in high liquidity, low volatility, and significant trading opportunities. The overall market condition is excellent during this time.

How Many Trading Days in a Month?

There are usually 20 to 22 trading days in a month, depending on how holidays and weekends fall. So if you’re wondering, “How many trading days in a month?”check a monthly economic calendar or simply count weekdays minus any holidays.

How Many Trading Days Left This Year?

If you’re reading this mid-year and wondering, “How many trading days left this year?”you can easily check an economic calendar or count weekdays minus holidays between today’s date and December 31. This helps traders make the most of the remaining trading days in year.

Conclusion

Financial trading is all about identifying the right trading opportunity at the right time. The trading time directly affects the profit or loss from a trade.

Some trading days offer the best market conditions, and some are the worst days to trade. Understanding how many trading days are in a year helps you in many ways.

You can customize your strategy, select ideal trading instruments, and decide when to open or close a trade. Explore our blog section to get an overview of the different financial markets.

FAQs

How many trading days are there in a year?

There are around 250 to 252 trading days in a year, excluding weekends and holidays.

How many trade day are there in 2025?

In 2025, there will be around 252 trade day in the US Stock and forex market.

How many profitable day traders are there?

There are around 1 to 2% of profitable day traders in the financial market which is very low.

How many traders quit after a year?

Around 80 to 90% of traders quit trading within the first 12 months.