Trading Session
The designated hours during which a financial market is open for buying and selling securities.
What is Trading Session?
A trading session is the period of time during which a financial exchange or market is officially open for trading activity. For U.S. equity markets, the regular trading session runs from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern Time on weekdays, excluding market holidays. Extended-hours trading—including a pre-market session (typically 4:00 AM to 9:30 AM ET) and an after-hours session (4:00 PM to 8:00 PM ET)—occurs on electronic communication networks (ECNs) at lower volume and often wider spreads. Global markets have their own session hours aligned to local time zones, with major sessions in Asia (Tokyo, Hong Kong), Europe (London, Frankfurt), and North America overlapping at certain hours. In the 24-hour foreign exchange market, trading is described in overlapping regional sessions rather than discrete open-and-close windows.
Example
The NYSE regular trading session runs from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET. A quarterly earnings release published at 5:00 PM ET falls in the after-hours session, where shares may move significantly on lower volume before the next day's regular session opens and broader price discovery occurs.
Source: NYSE — Trading Hours