Futures Market Hours

Generally, futures start trading every Sunday at 5 p.m. Central Time (CT) and close the following Friday at 4 p.m. CT. There is a 60-minute break occurring each day when contracts are marked to market (MTM)—a process that helps to inform overnight margin requirements and shows an updated profit and loss for each position in a trader’s account. There are variations in futures trading hours depending on the product and the exchange. Below, we’ll break down the details between these products.

The Chicago Futures Exchange (CFE) hosts volatility and corporate bond index futures. The CFE is owned and operated by the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe).

The main products that trade on the CFE are Cboe Volatility Index futures (/VX) and Mini-VIX futures (/VXM). The VIX Index measures how volatile the market expects the S&P 500 Index (SPX) to be over the next 30 days.

CME's trading hours for CFE futures are from Sunday 5:00 p.m. to Friday 4:00 p.m. CT, with a 60-minute break each day from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT.

Equity futures track equity indices and include E-Mini S&P 500 futures (/ES), E-Mini Nasdaq-100 futures (/NQ), and E-Mini Russell 2000 futures (/RTY). There are also micro-sized products that trade at a fraction of the size, such as the Micro E-mini S&P 500 futures (/MES).

Interest rate futures track U.S. government bonds, notes, and short-term interest rates. These include but are not limited to the 10-year U.S. Treasury Note futures (/ZN) and the Three-Month Secured Overnight Finance Rate futures (/SR3). Both product suites—equity index futures and interest rate futures—trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) under the same hours.

CME's trading hours for equity and interest rate futures are from Sunday 5:00 p.m. to Friday 4:00 p.m. CT, with a 60-minute break each day from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT.

Cryptocurrency futures include Bitcoin futures (/BTC) and Ether futures (/ETH), along with micro-sized contracts, Micro Bitcoin futures (/MBT) and Micro Ether futures (/MET).

These cryptocurrency futures trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). One important caveat for cryptocurrency futures traded at tastytrade is that the overnight margin requirement for Bitcoin is one and a half times the CME’s maintenance requirement.

Currency futures include all the major currencies, which are all hosted on the CME. They include the Australian Dollar futures (/6A), British Pound futures (/6B), Canadian Dollar futures (/6C), Euro futures (/6E), Japanese Yen futures (/6J), and Mexican Peso futures (/6M). Micro-sized contracts are also available for all currency futures products excluding the Japanese Yen and Mexican Peso.

CME's trading hours for cryptocurrency and currency futures are from Sunday 5:00 p.m. to Friday 4:00 p.m. CT, with a 60-minute break each day from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT.

Metals futures include Gold futures (/GC), Micro Gold futures (/MGC), Silver futures (/SI), Micro Silver futures (/SIL), Copper futures (/HG), and Micro Copper futures (/MHG). These products are traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

Energy products include oil-linked products, natural gas, and fuel products. These include Crude Oil futures (/CL), E-mini Crude Oil futures (/QM), and Micro WTI Crude Oil futures (/MCL). Natural gas futures include Henry Hub Natural Gas futures (/NG), E-mini Natural Gas futures (/QG), and Micro Henry Hub futures (/MNG). Fuel products include RBOB Gasoline futures (/RB) and Heating Oil futures (/HO).

CME's trading hours for metals futures are from Sunday 5:00 p.m. to Friday 4:00 p.m. Central Time, with a 60-minute break each day from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT.

CME agricultural futures products include Corn futures (/ZC), Soybean futures (/ZS), Wheat futures (/ZW), Mini Corn futures (/XC), Mini Soybean futures (/XK), and Mini Wheat futures (/XW).

CME's trading hours for agricultural futures are from Sunday to Friday, 7:00 p.m. to 7:45 a.m. CT, with a break from 7:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., and then resume from 8:30 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. CT.

Livestock futures—also traded on the CME—include Lean Hog futures (/HE) and Live Cattle futures (/LE).

CME's trading hours for livestock futures are from 8:30 a.m. to 1:05 p.m. CT, Monday to Friday.