Trading day

What do trading hours and trading day mean?

All times mentioned are in the US Eastern time zone.

Trading days on Nadex start at 6 p.m. of the previous day, run overnight, and end at 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and at 4:15 p.m. on Friday.

Nadex pauses trading Monday through Thursday, 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m., for end-of-day processing. Nadex is closed from 4:15 p.m. Friday until 6 p.m. Sunday.

The trading day encompasses both what other exchanges call regular trading hours or the trading session - traditionally the time between the opening bell and the close - as well as after-hours trading.

The week’s trading starts on Sunday at 6 p.m., but it is officially considered the Monday trading day. In notices and other announcements you may sometimes see references to, for example, 'trade date March 2', which would technically begin at 6 p.m. on March 1.

Advantages for overnight trading

On other exchanges, traders may avoid taking overnight positions. Futures brokers, for example, usually have higher margin requirements for holding trades overnight. Additionally, day traders may not want to leave a position on while they are asleep.

On Nadex, there are no margin requirements, pattern day trading rules, or additional costs associated with trading overnight. In fact, some traders prefer it. Your risk exposure is limited to the initial trade cost—whatever you paid to buy or sell your contracts. Since the risk is capped on every trade, you can leave a position on with a clear understanding of your maximum possible risk. You can also exit a position early to limit losses or lock in profit.

Initiating a position the evening before the regular trading session begins in the underlying market can give you an edge, since you have more time until expiration than traders who enter at the opening bell. A contract may cost slightly more to buy in exchange for that edge, since you’re essentially buying an extra 12-15 hours for your trade to develop. Your binary option or spread has greater extrinsic value because of the extra time advantage.

Trading holidays

Nadex is based in Chicago, Illinois and observes all US national holidays. The exchange is closed on those days and no trading takes place. You can view the list on the holidays and hours page.

Since Nadex offers trading across multiple global asset classes, specific markets are closed for trading on the various national holidays that affect them. For example, on Japanese national holidays, trading may be suspended in the Japan 225 contracts and Japanese yen-based forex contracts.

Nadex announces upcoming holiday observances in advance on the notices page. Those holidays will also be listed in our welcome message you see when you logging in to the Nadex platform. The guidelines for how Nadex pauses and resumes trading are shown in the holiday product schedule guidelines.