The simple version

US stock markets are open today, Friday, July 3, 2026, for a full normal trading session. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq both observe Independence Day on July 4. When July 4 falls on a Saturday, the holiday is not shifted to Friday, so there is no early close and no shortened session. Markets open at 9:30 a.m. Eastern and close at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, same as any other trading day.

This catches retail investors off guard more often than you might expect. The confusion is understandable: Friday before a federal holiday feels like it should be a half day. But the NYSE and Nasdaq follow a specific rule. When a holiday lands on Saturday, the exchanges do not observe a Friday closure. If July 4 fell on a Sunday, markets would close on Monday. Saturday gets no substitution. That means your brokerage account, your 401(k) trades, and any limit orders you have sitting in the queue all process normally today.

The numbers

• NYSE regular trading hours: 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday (NYSE, nyse.com).
• NYSE 2026 holiday schedule: July 4 (Independence Day) is the only listed closure near this date. No early close on July 3 (NYSE, nyse.com).
• Nasdaq 2026 holiday schedule: matches NYSE; July 3 is a full trading day (Nasdaq, nasdaq.com).
• Number of NYSE market holidays in a calendar year: 9 (NYSE, nyse.com).
• When July 4 falls on Saturday, NYSE rule: no Friday substitution observed; when July 4 falls on Sunday, markets close Monday (NYSE, nyse.com).
• Bond market (SIFMA recommended close): SIFMA recommended an early close at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, July 3, 2025, when July 4 was a Friday. In 2026, no such recommendation applies because July 4 is Saturday (SIFMA, sifma.org).

How US market holiday schedules actually work

The NYSE and Nasdaq set their own holiday calendars, which they publish in advance each year. These calendars are not the same as the federal holiday schedule, though they overlap heavily. The exchanges observe 9 holidays per year: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. When any of those dates falls on a weekend, the exchanges apply a substitution rule only in one direction. Sunday holiday means the Monday is closed. Saturday holiday means no substitution; the prior Friday trades normally.

This asymmetry exists because equity markets do not trade on weekends at all. A Saturday closure is already a non-trading day by default, so there is nothing to move. A Sunday closure, on the other hand, would otherwise be a trading Monday, so the exchange formally marks that Monday as a holiday. The logic is mechanical, not ceremonial.

The bond market follows slightly different guidance. SIFMA, the industry group for fixed income dealers, issues recommended early-close schedules for the Treasury and municipal bond markets. These recommendations are not legally binding, but most major dealers follow them. SIFMA did recommend an early bond market close in years when July 4 was a Friday or when the holiday was adjacent to a weekend in a way that created a long gap. In 2026, with July 4 on Saturday, SIFMA issued no early-close recommendation for July 3. Bond markets also run normal hours today.

Options markets follow the same schedule as the underlying equity exchanges. Futures markets on CME Group have their own schedule and may differ, particularly for overnight sessions, so if you trade futures you should verify directly with your broker or check the CME Group holiday calendar.

The Real Cost lens on a mistimed trade

Missing a trading day you thought was open does not cost you money by itself. But assuming markets are closed when they are open, or open when they are closed, can create real problems if you have time-sensitive orders sitting in your queue.

• Scenario: you placed a limit order expecting it to expire before a holiday weekend and intended to reprice it Monday. If markets are open today and your limit is hit, the order executes at the price you set, which may no longer reflect current conditions.
• Scenario: you planned to move cash from your brokerage account into a money market fund today, assuming markets were closed. The transaction processes normally today. No issue there, but the timing assumption was wrong.
• Scenario: your employer's 401(k) plan processes contributions on the next available trading day after payroll. If you assumed July 3 was a non-trading day and planned around that, contributions and reinvestments process today instead.
• The actual dollar impact of a misread holiday schedule depends entirely on what orders or transfers you have pending. The cost of checking the NYSE holiday calendar: zero. The cost of a misfired limit order: variable and entirely avoidable.

Holiday schedule errors are a category of mistake that feels embarrassing but is not rare. Brokerage platforms do not always surface a clear warning that a day you assumed was a holiday is actually live. The habit worth building: check the NYSE published holiday calendar at the start of each year and note the handful of dates where the Saturday rule applies.

What this means

For most investors, today is a non-event. Passive investors holding index funds through a 401(k) or IRA do not need to do anything differently. Prices update, but no action is required. For anyone with active orders, pending transfers, or options positions expiring this week, the fact that today is a full trading day means those positions behave exactly as they would on any other Friday in July.

The broader point is about information hygiene. Market hours, settlement timelines, and holiday schedules are published and stable. The NYSE and Nasdaq post their full-year holiday calendars before January 1. Getting tripped up by a schedule question that has a public answer is the kind of friction that a few minutes of upfront checking eliminates entirely.

What this is NOT

This is not a prediction of what the stock market will do today or over the holiday weekend. This is not advice on whether to buy, sell, hold, or place any specific order. This is not a comprehensive guide to futures, options expiration, or after-hours trading schedules, which follow their own rules. This is not a statement about bond market hours for every dealer or platform, since SIFMA recommendations are not legally binding on all participants. This is not a recommendation about any brokerage platform, account type, or order type.

Sources

• NYSE market holidays and trading hours: https://www.nyse.com/markets/hours-calendars
• Nasdaq market holiday schedule: https://www.nasdaq.com
• SIFMA recommended holiday schedule for US bond markets: https://www.sifma.org
• SEC investor education, market hours: https://www.sec.gov