You're probably asking because of what happened last year. Or maybe you just like to stay ahead of the game. Whatever the reason, the question of whether or not the stock market will be closed on January 9th is one of those things that seems simple until you start digging into the weird history of Wall Street calendars.
The short answer? No. In 2026, the stock market is open for business on Friday, January 9th.
It's a regular trading day. 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. No special early close. No National Day of Mourning. Just the usual grind of tickers and trades. But the fact that you're even asking makes total sense, because January 9th has a bit of a "reputation" now.
Why Everyone is Confused About January 9th
Basically, 2025 threw a massive wrench into everyone's mental calendar. On January 9, 2025, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq actually did close. It wasn't a standard holiday like Christmas or New Year's. It was a National Day of Mourning for former President Jimmy Carter.
When a former president passes away, it’s a long-standing tradition—though not a hard law—for the markets to shut down. We saw it with George H.W. Bush back in 2018. We saw it again with Carter. Because that closure happened so recently, a lot of automated calendars and "zombie" articles floating around the internet haven't quite updated for 2026.
Honestly, it's easy to see why people get tripped up. You see a headline from a year ago saying "Markets Closed Jan 9," and your brain just logs it as a recurring thing. It isn't.
The Official 2026 Holiday Lineup
If you're planning your trades for the start of the year, you really only need to worry about two big dates in January.
- January 1 (Thursday): New Year’s Day. Everything is shut tight.
- January 19 (Monday): Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Again, full closure.
January 9th falls right in the middle of that stretch. It’s a Friday this year. While the federal government observes things like "National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day" on the 9th, the NYSE and Nasdaq don't consider that a reason to stop the money from moving.
What about the bond market?
This is where it gets slightly more nuanced. Sometimes the bond market (SIFMA) plays by different rules than the stock market. For example, on Veterans Day, stocks are usually trading while bonds take a nap. However, for January 9, 2026, even the bond guys are staying in their seats. SIFMA has not recommended any early close or full-day holiday for this date.
Trading Hours for January 9, 2026
Since it's a normal day, the schedule is the one you already know by heart:
- Pre-Market Trading: 4:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. ET
- Core Trading Session: 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET
- After-Hours Trading: 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. ET
If you're trading options or international ADRs, your specific window might shift by 15 minutes here or there, but for the vast majority of us, it’s a full eight-hour day of watching candles move.
Why Markets Rarely Close Unexpectedly
Wall Street hates being closed. Every hour the exchange is dark is an hour of lost commission fees and liquidity. For the stock market to close on a non-scheduled day, something big has to happen.
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Usually, it’s one of three things:
- The Death of a President: As mentioned, this is the "Jimmy Carter" scenario.
- Natural Disasters: Think Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which shut the NYSE for two days because, well, lower Manhattan was underwater.
- Technical Glitches: These are rare and usually only last a few hours, like the 2015 NYSE outage.
Barring some unforeseen global event or a sudden act of God, January 9th is going to be a very standard Friday.
Don't Get Fooled by the "Social Media Calendar"
You've probably seen those "List of Holidays" posts on LinkedIn or Instagram. They often scrape data from previous years without checking the day of the week or the specific context. In 2026, January 9th is just another Friday.
If you're a day trader, this is actually a pretty important day. It’s the second Friday of the new year. Historically, the first couple of weeks in January are high-volume as people rebalance their portfolios for the new tax year. This is often called the "January Effect," where stocks—especially small caps—tend to see a bit of a bump as investors put their fresh capital to work.
Closing the market on a Friday in early January would actually be a huge disruption to that flow.
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The Actionable Takeaway for Investors
Don't delete your limit orders for that morning. You don't need to worry about a "gap up" or "gap down" caused by a three-day weekend on the 9th.
Here is exactly what you should do:
- Verify your calendar: Mark January 19th as your next actual break. That’s the MLK holiday where you can actually go play golf or sleep in.
- Watch for Volatility: Since January 9th is a Friday, watch out for the usual end-of-week profit-taking, especially if the first week of 2026 starts off hot.
- Check International Markets: Just because the US is open doesn't mean everyone is. But for Jan 9th, even London (LSE) and Tokyo (TSE) are generally operating on normal schedules.
Basically, keep your strategy exactly where it is. If you were planning on making moves on the second Friday of January, the path is clear. Wall Street will be open, the lights will be on, and the tickers will be running.