The market won't work overtime for you, but it will stage its riots while you sleep. Trading hours are your risk's schedule.
All times in this article are Beijing Time (UTC+8). North American sessions shift by 1 hour with daylight saving / standard time; always confirm actual times against the latest exchange announcements.
1. The Master Table First
| Market | Open | Close | Settlement | Holiday Rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-shares | 09:30 | 15:00 (lunch break 11:30–13:00) | T+1 | Weekends + public holidays |
| HK stocks | 09:30 | 16:00 (lunch break 12:00–13:00) | T+0 / funds T+2 | Weekends + HK holidays |
| US stocks | 21:30 DST / 22:30 standard | Next day 04:00 / 05:00 | T+0 (PDT only) | Weekends + US holidays |
| Japanese stocks | 08:00 | 14:30 (lunch break 10:00–11:30) | T+0 | Weekends + Japanese holidays |
| Domestic commodity futures | 09:00 (night session from 21:00) | 15:00 (night session to next day 02:30) | T+0 | Weekends + long holidays |
| Stock index / treasury bond futures | 09:30 | 15:00 / 15:15 | T+0 | Closed in sync with the stock market |
| London gold & silver (spot, electronic market) | ~Mon 06:00 | ~Sat 05:00 | Margin T+0 | ~1 hour daily break |
| COMEX precious metals / crude futures | ~Mon 06:00 | ~Sat 05:00 | T+0 | 1-hour daily break |
| Forex | ~Mon 06:00 | ~Sat 05:00 | Margin T+0 | Weekend closure |
| Crypto | None | None | T+0 | 7×24×365, never closes |
One-line memory aid: crypto is the most relentless (365 days a year), stocks are the most disciplined (4 hours a day), commodity futures work the hardest (day + night sessions bridging Europe and the US), gold and crude are the most accommodating (23 hours a day).
2. Stock Market Trading Hours
2.1 A-Shares (Shanghai / Shenzhen)
| Session | Time |
|---|---|
| Call auction | 09:15–09:25 (no cancellation after 09:20); closing auction 14:57–15:00 |
| Continuous auction | 09:30–11:30, 13:00–15:00 |
| After-hours fixed-price trading | ChiNext / STAR Market 15:05–15:30 |
2.2 HK Stocks
- Pre-open auction 09:00–09:30, continuous auction 09:30–12:00 and 13:00–16:00, closing auction 16:00–16:10.
- Stock Connect eligibility and mainland holiday arrangements follow exchange announcements (the two regions' holidays don't align — "you're on holiday while HK stocks are trading" happens easily).
2.3 US Stocks (US Eastern ↔ Beijing Time)
| Session | US Eastern | Beijing (DST) | Beijing (standard time) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-market | 04:00–09:30 | 16:00–21:30 | 17:00–22:30 |
| Regular hours | 09:30–16:00 | 21:30–next day 04:00 | 22:30–next day 05:00 |
| After-hours | 16:00–20:00 | 04:00–08:00 | 05:00–09:00 |
- Daylight saving (EDT): mid-March to early November; standard time (EST): early November to mid-March the following year. On switchover days the session overnight "loses" or "gains" one hour.
3. Domestic Futures: A Three-Segment Schedule
3.1 Structure
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Day session: 09:00–10:15 (15-min break) → 10:30–11:30 → lunch → 13:30–15:00
Night session opens 21:00, closes in three tiers by product
- Stock index futures (CFFEX): 09:30–11:30, 13:00–15:00, no night session, fully in sync with the stock market.
- Treasury bond futures (CFFEX): 09:30–11:30, 13:00–15:15, no night session.
3.2 Night Session Closing Tiers (Beijing Time)
| Close | Representative products |
|---|---|
| 23:00 | Rebar, hot-rolled coil, rubber, fuel oil, bitumen, soybean meal, soybean oil, palm oil, corn, sugar, cotton, PTA, methanol, plastics, PP, iron ore, coke, coking coal, etc. |
| Next day 01:00 | Copper, aluminum, zinc, lead, nickel, tin, stainless steel, alumina |
| Next day 02:30 | Gold, silver, crude oil (SC), low-sulphur fuel oil, international copper |
- No night session: stock index futures, treasury bond futures, apples, red dates, eggs, japonica rice, fiberboard, plywood, etc.
- Holidays: domestic futures stay closed longer around New Year's Day / Spring Festival / National Day, while overseas markets (COMEX/NYMEX/LME) trade as usual — the first open after a long holiday often gaps violently, and holding positions overnight before the holiday is the most dangerous moment for futures beginners.
💀 Post-Holiday Opening Gaps: The Deadliest Liquidation Hotspot
The first open after a long holiday often gaps violently; carrying overnight positions into the holiday is the most dangerous moment for futures beginners. Overseas markets trade as usual while you are away — price moves accumulated during the holiday are delivered all at once at the open.
⚠️ Risk warning: the night session exists for products that track European and US hours, and it is also the peak window for liquidation — traders who watch the screens all day tend to relax at night, precisely when markets are most active.
4. Gold, Silver, Crude: The World's Main Trading Sessions
These three asset classes are global instruments whose hours span Asia, Europe, and the US. Understanding their schedule is a prerequisite for trading them.
4.1 London Gold & Silver (spot electronic market, e.g. XAUUSD/XAGUSD)
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| Hours | ~Mon 06:00 – ~Sat 05:00 (Beijing Time) |
| Daily break | ~05:00–06:00 (DST); the whole window shifts 1 hour in standard time |
| Nature | OTC market (LBMA system), dealer quotes, margin trading |
| Notes | The mainstream way to trade "spot gold"; leverage is high (commonly on the order of 1:100); offshore broker platforms carry high risk — beware of fraudulent platforms |
4.2 COMEX Precious Metals & NYMEX Energy (CME Group)
| Product | Code | Hours (Beijing Time) | Break |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold futures | GC | ~Mon 06:00 – ~Sat 05:00 | Daily ~05:00–06:00 |
| Silver futures | SI | Same as above | Same as above |
| WTI crude | CL | Same as above | Same as above |
| Natural gas | NG | Same as above | Same as above |
- Routine 1-hour maintenance break daily 17:00–18:00 (US Eastern).
- In standard time everything shifts 1 hour later (opens ~Mon 07:00 Beijing Time).
4.3 Brent Crude (ICE)
- The electronic market trades ~23 hours/day, roughly 08:00 – next day 06:00 Beijing Time, with a ~2-hour daily break.
- WTI (delivered at Cushing, USA) and Brent (delivered in the North Sea) are the world's two crude benchmarks; the spread between them reflects supply and demand on both sides of the Atlantic.
4.4 Gold / Crude Sessions Accessible from Mainland China
| Channel | Hours (Beijing Time) |
|---|---|
| Shanghai Gold Exchange gold/silver T+D | Day session 09:00–15:30, night session 20:00–next day 02:30 |
| INE crude futures SC | Day session 09:00–15:00, night session 21:00–next day 02:30 |
| SHFE gold/silver futures | Day session 09:00–15:00, night session 21:00–next day 02:30 |
| Bank paper gold | Most banks 24 hours or until around 04:00; see bank announcements |
4.5 Key Data Release Windows (Must-Watch for Gold / Crude Traders)
| Data | Release (Beijing Time) | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| US non-farm payrolls | First Friday of the month 20:30 (21:30 in standard time) | Violent moves in gold and USD |
| US CPI / PCE | Mid-month 20:30 (21:30 in standard time) | Rate expectations → gold, USD |
| Fed rate decisions | ~02:00 the day after the FOMC meeting (03:00 in standard time) | All markets |
| EIA crude inventories | Wednesdays 22:30 (23:30 in standard time) | Short-term crude direction |
| API crude inventories | ~04:30 the day before EIA | Leading indicator for crude |
5. Forex: Around the Clock, but Off on Weekends
- Hours: ~Mon 06:00 (Sydney open) → Tokyo → London → New York → ~Sat 05:00 (Beijing Time).
- DST / standard time: the whole window shifts by about 1 hour when Europe and the US switch.
- Three peaks: Tokyo open (~08:00), London open (15:00/16:00), New York open (21:30/22:30) — volatility concentrates in these overlapping windows.
- Weekend: closed Sat 05:00 – Mon 06:00; weekend positions carry "Sunday opening gap" risk.
6. The Volatility Window Map: When to Watch the Screen
| Beijing Time | Active markets | Characteristics |
|---|---|---|
| 07:00–09:00 | Sydney/Tokyo + crypto | Quiet Asian session; crypto often prints wicks |
| 09:00–10:30 | China/Japan/Korea stocks + domestic futures + crypto | A-share opening sentiment, domestic commodities morning run |
| 13:00–15:00 | Late Asia + pre-Europe | HK afternoon session, A-share close |
| 15:00–16:00 | Europe open (London) | Forex/gold wake up (15:00 DST, 16:00 standard time) |
| 20:00–21:30 | Pre-US + precious metals night session | US economic data often drops in this window |
| 21:30–next day 04:00 | US stocks open + commodity night sessions | The window where gold/crude/crypto correlate most tightly with US equities |
| Next day 02:30–05:00 | Late US session | Gold/silver/oil night sessions close one after another; late trading often sets direction |
7. What This Means in Practice
- Overnight risk is the most underestimated risk: after domestic futures close at 15:00, overseas markets keep trading, and the next open directly reflects the overnight move — holding overnight = handing your fate to foreign markets.
- Pick "your" trading window: office workers are best suited to A-shares, the first 2 hours of the night session, or crypto; full-time traders can exploit the Europe–US overlap.
- Cut position before major data: the 30 minutes around NFP, CPI, and Fed decisions are peak "data sweep" windows that hit both longs and shorts.
- Reduce proactively before holidays: mainland long holidays, US Thanksgiving/Christmas, and crypto weekend liquidity droughts all need advance planning.
⚠️ Risk Warning
Trading hours are not "the time you are allowed to trade" — they are "the time your risk exposure exists". In time windows you don't understand, not opening a position is the best risk control there is.