A new year is approaching.
With it, there is a revised timetable of trading hours that professional investors will have to observe during the festive period and into 2025.
Retail investors might want to note when the stock market is open and closed too. Trading hours naturally affect the positions held by portfolio managers in retail funds, pension funds, and investment trusts. And, for those who trade stocks and shares actively via apps and brokers, the timings impose restrictions and can affect when trades are processed and settled*.
As you might expect, the London Stock Exchange is closed all day on Christmas Day and Boxing Day 2024, before reopening briefly for half a day on New Year’s Eve. It then closes on New Year’s Day, before reopening fully for 2025 on Thursday Jan. 2.
When is The London Stock Exchange Open in 2025?
In 2025 the London Stock Exchange is closed for 10 days, with pauses in trading split across nine full days and two half-days. Many of these days are Bank Holidays, which the Exchange observes in parallel with other institutions.
The London Stock Exchange does not open at weekends. During normal working weeks, trading occurs between 8am and 4:30pm.
A full list of trading hours can be found on the LSE’s website. One caveat is that the exchange follows English bank holidays, while Scottish and Northern Irish holidays are different. For example, the LSE is open on Jan. 2, which is a bank holiday in Scotland.
Another big caveat is bond and currency markets trade at different times.
You can more or less trade currencies 24 hours a day. But this is technically feasible too with stocks – if you rotate from European to US to Asian markets in the daily cycle. That doesn’t leave much time for sleep though, so is probably not recommended!
- It’s also worth checking your investment platform’s trading hours and the availability of support over the phone or over online chat.
The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar’s editorial policies.
