Honestly, looking at your trading app and seeing a flat line when you expected a price jump is the worst feeling. You're sitting there, coffee in hand, ready to execute a trade, and... nothing. The numbers aren't moving. It’s a ghost town. If you’re asking is the market open today, you’re probably either dealing with a holiday you forgot about or you’re caught in that weird gap between global time zones.
Today is Thursday, January 15, 2026. If you are trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or the Nasdaq, the answer is a straightforward yes. The U.S. markets are open for their regular session from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
But wait.
If you're an international investor or you're dabbling in global equities, things get a little more complicated today. While Wall Street is humming along, the Indian stock markets (BSE and NSE) are actually closed. They’ve declared a trading holiday today, January 15, 2026, due to municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra. This is a classic example of why "the market" isn't just one single entity that follows a global "on" switch.
Is the market open today and why the answer changes
The U.S. stock market is like that one friend who is super reliable but has very specific boundaries. It follows a strict 252-day trading calendar most years. For 2026, we’ve already cleared New Year’s Day, and the next big closure for the NYSE and Nasdaq isn’t until Monday, January 19, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
So, for today, January 15, the U.S. tape is rolling.
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However, "open" is a relative term. Are you talking about the bond market? The bond market usually follows SIFMA recommendations, and while it's open today, it often has different early-close rules compared to equities. Are you looking at crypto? Bitcoin doesn't sleep. It’s open 24/7, 365 days a year, including Christmas and your birthday.
Why today feels different for some traders
If you’re seeing lower-than-usual volume, it might be because some global desks are sidelined. With the Indian markets closed for the Maharashtra elections, a significant chunk of emerging market liquidity is missing. It’s a butterfly effect. A local election in Mumbai can actually subtly shift the bid-ask spreads on global ETFs that track Asian markets.
Most people think "is the market open today" is a yes/no question. It’s really a "which market and where" question.
The 2026 U.S. Trading Calendar: What’s Coming Up
Since today is a normal trading day in the States, you might want to mark your calendar for when the doors actually lock. The U.S. markets have a few "hard stops" where the lights go out completely.
- January 19 (Monday): Martin Luther King Jr. Day - Closed
- February 16 (Monday): Presidents' Day - Closed
- April 3 (Friday): Good Friday - Closed
- May 25 (Monday): Memorial Day - Closed
Funny enough, 2026 is a bit of a "full" year for trading. We don't have many mid-week holiday surprises coming up in the next few weeks. If you're trading today, you're dealing with a standard session. No early closes. No shortened hours. Just the usual 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. grind.
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What about after-hours?
If you're reading this at 6:00 a.m. or 6:00 p.m., the "regular" market isn't open, but the extended-hours market is.
Pre-market trading on the Nasdaq starts as early as 4:00 a.m. ET. Most retail brokers like Robinhood, Charles Schwab, or Fidelity let you in on this, though the liquidity is thin. It’s risky. One big order from a hedge fund can swing a stock 5% because there aren't enough "normal" people trading to stabilize the price.
The same goes for after-hours, which runs until 8:00 p.m. ET. If a company drops an earnings report at 4:05 p.m. today, you’ll see the "market" moving, even though the floor of the NYSE is technically empty.
A quick check for bank holidays
Banks are open today in the U.S. since it’s just a regular Thursday. This matters because if it were a Federal Reserve holiday, your wire transfers wouldn't clear. You could sell a stock, but that cash would be stuck in "settlement limbo" for an extra day.
Thankfully, today, the plumbing of the financial system is working just fine.
Actionable steps for today's session
Since the market is indeed open today, don't just stare at the ticker.
First, check the economic calendar. On Thursdays, we often get initial jobless claims data at 8:30 a.m. ET. This frequently sets the tone for the opening bell. If the numbers are weird, the "open" might be more volatile than usual.
Second, if you're trading international stocks, double-check the local holiday schedule for that specific country. As we saw with India today, just because Wall Street is open doesn't mean the rest of the world is playing along.
Finally, keep an eye on the VIX. It’s the "fear gauge." If the market is open but the VIX is spiking, it means something is brewing, even on a standard Thursday in January.
Go check your positions. The U.S. markets are live, the data is flowing, and the opportunity is there. Just remember that next Monday is a totally different story.