Do you want to know when the US markets open in India? If you’re a US stock investor living in India, in the IST timezone, then this is a critical thing to know.
What is the US market opening time as per IST?
On a typical business day, the US stock market opens at 9:30 AM EST or 8 PM IST. For investors living in India, this means that the market starts when investors have just completed their work day.
What is the US market closing time as per IST?
The US stock market closes at 4:00 PM EST or 2:30 AM IST. This may inconvenience investors in India as this is very late. However, Vested’s platform helps you invest despite the inconvenient market hours for Indian residents.
Vested’s app provides always-on market access
When you use the Vested app, even if the US stock market is not open, you can still enter your buy or sell orders. Here’s how it works. When the market is closed (after 4:00 PM EST or 2:30 AM IST, and before it opens the following business days), whenever you enter orders, they are queued in our system to be submitted when the market opens. As a result, when you use the Vested app, stock investments don’t have to pause when the Nasdaq or the NYSE are closed. With Vested’s order queuing system, all your planned trades – whether buying or selling – during off-hours will be executed as soon as the market opens again.
Be mindful of volatility
However, be mindful of volatility. When you enter buy or sell orders when the market is closed, the price of execution, determined when the market reopens, may differ from the price you enter. This is especially true during periods of heightened volatility.
Savvy investors can mitigate this risk by using limit and stop orders, both are available on the Vested platform.
Investing in US stocks is a good way to diversify your portfolio and hedge against the depreciation of the INR
Despite the time difference for Indian residents, investing in the US can be beneficial. Since investing in the US means investing in USD (not INR), it can be a good way to diversify and protect your portfolio against the depreciation of the INR (Rupees). By investing some of your funds into US stock markets, you can also create a hedge against future economic instability that would otherwise negatively affect the value of your investments in India. When done cautiously, over the long term, investing in US stocks can help you grow your nest egg.
List of US stock market holidays
The above discussion is for a typical business day. There are days when the US stock market is closed. Here’s a list of all US stock market holidays in 2023, 2024, and 2025. All time zones are in EST. So if you’re reading this from India, your time is 10.5 hours ahead of EST.
| Holiday | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| New Years Day | Monday, January 2 | Monday, January 1 | Wednesday, January 1 |
| Martin Luther King, Jr. Day | Monday, January 16 | Monday, January 15 | Monday, January 20 |
| Washington’s Birthday | Monday, February 20 | Monday, February 19 | Monday, February 17 |
| Good Friday | Friday, April 7 | Friday, March 29 | Friday, April 18 |
| Memorial Day | Monday, May 29 | Monday, May 27 | Monday, May 26 |
| Juneteenth National Independence Day | Monday, June 19 | Wednesday, June 19 | Thursday, June 19 |
| Independence Day | Tuesday, July 4 | Thursday, July 4 | Friday, July 4 |
| Labor Day | Monday, September 4 | Monday, September 2 | Monday, September 1 |
| Thanksgiving Day | Thursday, November 23 | Thursday, November 28 | Thursday, November 27 |
| Christmas Day | Monday, December 25 | Wednesday, December 25 | Thursday, December 25 |
In conclusion:
- The US market hours during the normal business day are between 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM EST. This translates to 8:00 PM to 2:30 AM India Standard time (IST).
- No matter what time it is in India, you can still submit trades via the Vested app and have them executed whenever the market re-opens.
- Remember that volatility may cause your execution price to differ from the order entry price.
- You can mitigate this by using LIMIT and STOP orders, which are provided by the Vested application.
- Investing in the US stock market is a great way to diversify your portfolio and hedge against currency depreciation.
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Our team members at Vested may own investments in some of the aforementioned companies/assets. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that any specific investment or strategy will be suitable or profitable for an investor’s portfolio. Note that past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investing in the stock market carries risk; the value of your investment can go up, or down, returning less than your original investment. Tax laws are subject to change and may vary depending on your circumstances.
This article is meant to be informative and not to be taken as an investment advice, and may contain certain “forward-looking statements,” which may be identified by the use of such words as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “should,” “planned,” “estimated,” “potential” and other similar terms. Examples of forward-looking statements include, without limitation, estimates with respect to financial condition, market developments, and the success or lack of success of particular investments (and may include such words as “crash” or “collapse”). All are subject to various factors, including, without limitation, general and local economic conditions, changing levels of competition within certain industries and markets, changes in interest rates, changes in legislation or regulation, and other economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory and technological factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from projected results.
This video is meant to be informative and not to be taken as an investment advice and may contain certain “forward-looking statements” which may be identified by the use of such words as “believe”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “should”, “planned”, “estimated”, “potential” and other similar terms. Examples of forward-looking statements include, without limitation, estimates with respect to financial condition, market developments, and the success of or lack of success of particular investments (and may include such words as “crash” or “collapse”.) All are subject to various factors, including, without limitation, general and local economic conditions, changing levels of competition within certain industries and markets, changes in interest rates, changes in legislation or regulation, and other economic, competitive, governmental, regulatory and technological factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from projected results.