Forex Market Holidays 2026

Why holidays matter in a 24/5 market

Forex has no single exchange that can be “closed.” When banks in one country take a public holiday, desks elsewhere keep quoting. A UK bank holiday does not shut the market — Tokyo, Sydney and New York still run.

What matters is which centers close and how many close together. London and New York together account for roughly 58% of daily global FX turnover (BIS). When both go quiet — Christmas Day is the extreme case — overall liquidity can fall 60–80%. The market is technically open but functionally impaired: wider spreads, thinner books, and prices that can gap on thin news.

Even a single-center holiday is material. A US bank holiday removes roughly a fifth of global volume — enough to widen USD pair spreads and weaken technical patterns that assume normal institutional flow.

Strategies for holiday trading

• Cut size. If you usually risk 1% per trade, use 0.25–0.5% on holidays. Wider spreads already raise effective risk at the same lot size.
• Widen stops. Tight stops that work in normal liquidity get wicked out by holiday noise.
• Skip Christmas and New Year. Dec 25 and Jan 1 are functionally closed. No edge in max-spread, min-volume conditions.
• Treat partial holidays carefully. Thanksgiving, Good Friday, Easter Monday, and Golden Week look “open” but lack depth.
• Read your broker schedule. Platforms set their own early closes, exotic suspensions, and margin changes.
• Clear pending orders before long closures. Limits and stops left over holidays can fill far from intended prices on the reopen.

Easter 2026 (Apr 3–6)

Good Friday closes London and Sydney bank desks; Tokyo does not observe Good Friday as a public holiday, though Asia flow is quieter. US markets typically run an early close. Easter Monday keeps the UK, much of the EU, and Australia shut. Treat the long weekend like a liquidity event, not a quiet Friday — spreads on EUR and GBP pairs stay elevated until desks return Tuesday.

May 25, 2026 — dual US + UK close

Memorial Day and the UK Spring Bank Holiday fall on the same Monday. Both New York and London run reduced staffing. That combination is uncommon and especially painful for EUR/USD and GBP/USD during what would normally be the London–New York overlap.

Thanksgiving 2026 (Nov 26–27)

Thursday Nov 26 is the biggest US-only FX holiday of the year. Many brokers cut USD trading hours early. Friday Nov 27 (Black Friday) often sees an afternoon early close. Asian and London hours on non-USD crosses are more usable, but overall depth stays below normal all week.

The Christmas–New Year low-liquidity window

From roughly Dec 22 through Jan 2, institutional participation collapses even on days that are not full closures. Banks run skeleton desks, year-end books close, and interbank credit lines tighten.

In 2026, Christmas Day is a Friday, so the market goes from Christmas closure straight into the weekend. Trading resumes Sunday evening Dec 27, but Mon–Wed (Dec 28–30) stay thin — and Dec 28 is Boxing Day observed in the UK. New Year’s Eve (Thu Dec 31) and New Year’s Day (Thu Jan 1) bookend another near-shutdown, with Jan 2 (Japan bank holiday Friday) adding a soft end before the weekend.

Many desks flat non-essential risk by mid-December and wait until the second full week of January for normal liquidity.