Stock Market on Thanksgiving: Are We *Still* Trading? Black Friday & Futures, Too?
Thanksgiving, Black Friday: Wall Street's 'Holiday' Is Just Another Scam.
Alright, folks, Nate Ryder here, and let's cut through the holiday cheer like a dull carving knife. Every year, like clockwork, we get these announcements about the stock market's "generous" holiday schedule. You'd think they were doing us a favor, wouldn't you? Giving the little guy a chance to breathe, maybe spend some quality time with the fam. Give me a break. What it really is, is another carefully orchestrated pause in the grand casino, designed more for their convenience than anyone else's.
The 'Generosity' of Wall Street (Or Lack Thereof)
So, here's the deal for 2025, in case you were dreaming of making a quick buck while carving the turkey. Is the stock market open on Thanksgiving Day? Nope. Absolutely not. Thursday, November 27th, 2025, the NYSE and Nasdaq? Dark. Silent. Not a peep. The bond market? Same story. It's a federal holiday, offcourse, so the big boys get to enjoy their pumpkin pie just like the rest of us... or, more likely, jet off to some private island, far from the madding crowds and market volatility.
But then comes Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Ah, the glorious day of consumer madness. You'd think with all those deals flying around, the market would be buzzing, right? Wrong. Is the stock market open on Black Friday? Technically, yeah, they open. But don't get too excited. Both the Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange will be open on November 28th, but they're pulling a classic Wall Street move: an early exit. They'll shut down at a crisp 1 p.m. ET. The U.S. bond market follows suit, closing at 2 p.m. ET. It's like they're giving us a taste of the action, then yanking the plate away just as things get interesting. I mean, what's that, a half-day? A glorified lunch break? They expect us to believe this is about observing the holiday, but honestly... it feels more like they just wanna hit those early bird Black Friday sales themselves, or maybe just avoid the post-turkey slump. Is the stock market open on Thanksgiving and Black Friday? What to know
I'm telling you, it’s like a kid who "worked so hard" in school getting a half-day. They ain't thinking about the rigors of academia; they're already planning their video game marathon. You think the titans of finance are truly reflecting on gratitude? Or are they just grateful for an excuse to clock out early and let the algorithms handle the rest?
The Grand Illusion of 'Normalcy'
After this little Thanksgiving charade, they'll tell you it's "business as usual" on Wall Street until late December. Oh, the normalcy! Until, that is, Christmas rolls around. Then it's the same song and dance: closed on Thursday, December 25th, and another early close on Christmas Eve, December 24th, at 1 p.m. ET. It's not just a break. No, 'break' doesn't cover it – it’s a strategic pause, a calculated move to... well, what? Give everyone a chance to reset their portfolios after a year of their shenanigans?
But seriously, who benefits most from these scheduled shutdowns? Is it the individual investor, frantically trying to figure out is the stock market open on friday after thanksgiving or is the stock market open the day after thanksgiving so they can make a last-minute trade? Or is it the institutions, the hedge funds, the big banks who already know the game, who have their strategies locked and loaded for when the doors finally creak open again?
It's a federal holiday, sure, and banks close, post offices close, even UPS and FedEx scale back operations. So, yeah, the whole country takes a breather. But there's a difference between a genuine pause for reflection and a tactical retreat from the trading floor. When I see the market pull its "holiday hours" stunt, I don't see reverence for tradition. I see a system that dictates its own terms, pauses when it suits it, and then expects us to cheer for the privilege of its return. Then again, maybe I'm the crazy one here. Maybe everyone genuinely needs a break from staring at those flashing numbers. But I doubt it.