The number of trading days in a year is 252 days on average. However, factors like holidays, weekends, leap years, and other significant events can change the number of trading days each year.
How Many Trading Days in a Year in US Markets?
The US stock market averages 252 trading days in a year. You can calculate this number with the following formula:
- Number of days in the year – number of weekend days – number of holidays = trading days in the year
Why Does the Number of Trading Days in a Year Vary?
Holidays falling on certain days each year can affect the number of trading days in a year. Additionally, other events and leap years can influence the number of trading days in specific years.
- Holidays
The stock market doesn’t close on every federal holiday, but you can view all the holidays it is closed on below.
- Weekends
Most years include 104 weekend days, but some can differ depending on where the first weekend of the year falls.
- Leap year
Every four years is a leap year, which means there will be an extra trading day on some of these years.
- Significant events
The stock market may close due to significant events, such as when it closed after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Calculating the Number of Trading Days in a Year Using Historical Data
If you want to calculate the number of trading days in a year, you can use the historical data of a major stock or indexes like the VIX or SPX.
You can technically use any stock if you are sure it has been trading each day in the period you are analyzing.
You can download data from Yahoo Finance and import it into Excel. Once the data is in Excel, you can simply count the number of days and divide the total by the number of years within the period.
What Holidays is the Stock Market Closed
- New Years (January 1st)
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day (3rd Monday of January)
- Presidents’ Day (3rd Monday in February)
- Good Friday (Friday before Easter Sunday)
- Memorial Day (Last Monday of May)
- Independence Day (July 4th)
- Labor Day (1st Monday in September)
- Thanksgiving Day (4th Thursday of November)
- Christmas Day (December 25th)
Before you go
If you want to keep educating yourself about personal finance and discover other deals on Amazon, you must check out these posts as well:
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