What time does the Futures and Commodities market open?

Trading and Investing Helping Traders
1

Hello everyone,

I am just starting my futures trading journey recently having switched over from Forex and I am a bit stumped.

I have been investigating the market opening times for futures/commodities markets, but to my surprise, it does not open at 9:30 AM Est and close at 4:00 PM. I have been seeing some conflicting information so I figured i’d reach out to your team for a precise answer.

All this time I was under the assumption that the futures and commodities markets ran along the same times as the Stock Exchange, but I guess I am wrong.

Anyone have the correct times for me?

2

Hi @Pemiya,

Thanks for your question.

This is a common misconception among new Futures traders. Although many Futures contracts are derivatives of the cash markets, they don’t exactly have the same opening and closing times. It ultimately comes down to the contracts and markets you wish to trade, but we can provide you with market sessions for some of the most common markets.

Let’s take a look at the CME, one of the most commonly traded Futures Exchanges. Besides the weekday opening, there are several other notable opening/closing times to take note of, please see below:

Trading hours are in U.S. Central Time unless otherwise stated. For products traded solely via CME ClearPort Clearing, the hours are as follows: Sunday-Friday 6:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. New York time/ET (5:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Chicago Time/CT) with a 60-minute break each day beginning at 5:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. CT)

Listed below is an exact breakdown of the trading hours for the one of the most popular Futures contracts, E-mini S&P 500 Futures and the exchange it is associated with, the CME Globex according to the CME’s website :

Sunday Pre-Open: 16:00
Sunday: 17:00 - 16:00
Pre-Open: 16:45, 15:15
Weekday: 17:00 - 15:15, 15:30 - 16:00
CME ClearPort: 17:00 - 16:00

I would also take a look at the following page on our own website which covers the trading hours for futures, options and spreads. Feel free to filter based off the type of contract you wish to trade, the type it belongs to, and the exchange or market group: Futures Trading Hours

I hope you find this helpful! Let us know if you have any further questions about the market opening times, we’d love to help you!

Thanks for your time,
Optimus Futures Support :optimus_logo_no_backroug: