Prop Firm Holiday Schedule: What to Check Each Year

There is no single prop firm holiday schedule. Your real schedule is the exchange's holiday calendar for the contracts you trade, plus any rules your firm adds on top. Exchanges publish the hours. Firms publish the account rules. A holiday trade goes wrong when the two don't line up and you only checked one.

This guide shows how holidays change futures hours, which clocks to check, what to do with open positions before an early close, and how Profirms accounts fit in. Holiday dates shift every year, so we give you the pattern and the official pages to confirm the current dates.

TL;DR

• Holidays bring early closes, late reopenings or full closures, and the hours differ by exchange and by contract. Confirm the exact contract on the exchange's own holiday page.
• Check four clocks: the exchange, your data and platform connection, your firm's flat time, and your local time.
• Flatten or manage positions manually before an early close. Don't count on a platform to do it for you.
• Profirms charges a one-time fee, with no subscription or activation fee. You keep 90% of every payout from the first payout. The max-loss floor never trails intraday. Evaluation and funded accounts are simulated.
• Read your firm's rulebook before each holiday week, not after.

Table of Contents

• Why holidays change your trading day
• Where to find the real hours
• The four clocks to check
• What typically changes on a holiday session
• Holiday rules prop firms may add
• How drawdown works around holidays at Profirms
• What to do with open positions before an early close
• Trade the holiday or sit out?
• Profirms accounts for traders who plan around the calendar
• A holiday checklist to save
• FAQ
• Sources

Why holidays change your trading day

Futures don't follow a stock-market-style calendar. Many contracts trade nearly around the clock on weekdays, so a U.S. holiday rarely means a clean "closed" sign. It usually means a modified session: trading ends early, the market reopens late, or a product pauses for part of the day.

The exchange sets those hours. The CME Group holiday and trading hours page lists its Globex holiday schedules by holiday period. For 2026, for example, it groups Thanksgiving as 26 to 28 November and Christmas as 24 to 26 December. Each period links to its own hours table.

The same holiday does not look the same across products. ICE Futures U.S. publishes a notice for its 2026 Christmas schedule with contract-level times. Coffee and Cocoa, for instance, close at 1:05 PM ET on December 24, 2026. A trader holding an equity index contract and one holding a soft commodity can face different cutoffs on the same afternoon.

The practical takeaway: never assume "the market closes early at 1 PM". Look up your contract.

Where to find the real hours

Start at the exchange, not at a forum post or a social media recap. Old holiday schedule posts stay online for years, and they show last year's hours.

1. Exchange holiday calendar. The CME Group trading hours page and the ICE holiday hours page are the primary sources. ICE says holiday hours for specific contracts are published in advance in the Notices section of its site.
2. Exchange market notices. Contract-specific changes, such as the Christmas notice above, appear here first.
3. Your platform or data feed status page. Your data provider may handle reopening times or session breaks in its own way.
4. Your prop firm's rulebook and help pages. This is where account rules are stated. For Profirms, that is the Help Center and the futures rules.

Check these at least a week before any holiday. Exchanges often post the holiday notice a few weeks ahead.

The four clocks to check

Most holiday mistakes are time mistakes. When you trade across a holiday, four different clocks matter.

The earliest applicable deadline controls your plan. If the exchange closes at 1:00 PM ET and your own flat time is earlier, the earlier time wins. If you live in Europe or Asia, convert it to local time the night before, and write the result down.

Exchange hours are quoted in Eastern or Central time depending on the exchange. Mixing those up is an easy way to be an hour off. Check which zone the table uses.

Daylight saving shifts matter too

The clocks change twice a year in the U.S., but not on the same dates as in Europe. For a few weeks, a trader in London or Frankfurt sees a different gap from U.S. exchange time than usual. If a holiday falls in one of those weeks, recalculate your local cutoff instead of reusing last year's.

What typically changes on a holiday session

The pattern is consistent even though the numbers vary:

• Full closure. The product doesn't trade that day.
• Early close. Trading stops well before the usual end of the session, often in the afternoon Eastern time on the day before or after a holiday.
• Late open or modified reopening. The market reopens at a different time than normal after the break.
• Reduced liquidity. Even when a market is open, fewer participants can mean wider spreads and thinner order books. This is a market condition, not a rule. It still affects fills and stops.
• Different hours by asset class. Index futures, energy, metals, rates and agriculture each follow their own schedule. Some holidays affect only some of them.

That last point catches traders who trade a single product for months and then switch for a week. Check the new contract before you place the first order.

Holiday rules prop firms may add

Exchange hours are only half of the picture. Firms layer their own account rules on top, and holiday handling differs from firm to firm. The questions worth answering before any holiday:

• Does the firm require positions to be closed at a certain time, and does that time change on holiday sessions?
• Is there auto-liquidation at the early close, or must you close manually?
• Does the firm allow holding positions overnight or over a long weekend?
• Do daily drawdown limits, profit targets and daily loss limits reset on the usual schedule?
• Do payout requests process on holidays, or is there a delay?
• Is there a news or event restriction around holiday-adjacent data releases? Our guide to news trading rules at prop firms covers what to check.

A situation that traps traders is the accidental hold. The exchange is open, so the platform lets you keep the position, but your firm's rules say it should have been closed. The platform doesn't warn you, because the platform follows the exchange. The rulebook is what matters.

Long weekends add another layer. A position held over a three-day weekend carries gap risk for longer than a normal weekend, and it may break a firm's overnight or weekend rule. Our overview of the core prop firm rules lists the controls to look up before you hold anything through a break.

How drawdown works around holidays at Profirms

We keep the account rules simple so that holidays don't add surprises. Here is what we can state about our accounts:

• The max-loss floor never trails intraday. With our end-of-day drawdown, the loss threshold is locked at the previous day's close. It doesn't move up while your open trade runs. The mechanics are covered in our guide to end-of-day drawdown and distance to threshold.
• No consistency rule and no minimum trading days. A holiday that takes a session away does not put you behind on a day-count requirement, because there isn't one.
• Evaluation and funded accounts are simulated. Orders in these accounts are not sent to a live market.
• One-time fee. Profirms charges a one-time fee, never a subscription or an activation fee. A quiet holiday week doesn't cost you a monthly charge, because there is none.
• 90% of every payout is yours from the first payout.

The exact hours your platform runs on a given holiday, and how that holiday interacts with a specific order, are listed in the rulebook and Help Center. Check them before the holiday, the same way you check the exchange calendar. You can also track your own distance to the floor with the free EOD drawdown tracker before and after a short session.

If a daily profit cap applies to the account you hold, confirm how it resets. Our guide to daily profit caps and the reset shows how to calculate it.

What to do with open positions before an early close

A short session is the riskiest time to be careless. Use a routine.

1. The week before: open the exchange holiday page, find your contract, and write down the open, close and reopening times in your local time.
2. The day before: read your firm's rulebook for any flat-time or holding rule. Note any difference from the exchange.
3. Set alerts. Put an alarm 30 minutes before the earliest deadline, and a second one at 10 minutes. Thirty minutes gives you room for a slow fill or a platform reconnect.
4. Decide your plan before the session. Either you trade and flatten, or you don't trade that day. "I'll see how it goes" is how positions are held by accident.
5. Close manually. Don't assume the platform will flatten you at the early close. If it doesn't, the position stays open.
6. Confirm flat. Look at the positions tab and the working orders tab, not just the chart. A resting stop or limit order can still fill later.
7. Check the reopening. Know when the market reopens and whether your plan includes trading it.

Hedging and offsetting positions

If you are tempted to offset a position instead of closing it, check what your firm allows first. Our summary of hedging rules at prop firms explains what is commonly allowed and banned.

Trade the holiday or sit out?

There is no right answer, but there are good reasons for each.

Reasons to trade: Your strategy works on the contract in a shortened session, you've tested it, and you know the cutoff.

Reasons to sit out: Liquidity is thinner, spreads may be wider, your normal setups may behave differently, and the early close compresses your decision time. If you have a profit target to reach, don't force trades because a session is short.

On a simulated account, a holiday is also a good time to practice trading. You can test a modified session without the pressure of a deadline. Our free charts and replay terminal are built for that.

Profirms accounts for traders who plan around the calendar

If you want clear rules that stay the same through holiday weeks, you can start with a Profirms evaluation. Prices are one-time fees:

You pay once. There is no subscription and no activation fee. You keep 90% of every payout from the first payout, and the end-of-day drawdown floor never trails intraday. Evaluation and funded accounts are simulated, and nothing here promises profits. Trading involves risk, including the loss of the account.

Every order is fully refundable until your login is delivered. Our trading platforms are in final checks, and logins are emailed as each account is set up.

See every account size and compare the options on the Profirms pricing page. For a breakdown of what funded accounts cost across the industry, read what getting funded really costs. If you plan around payout timing, our guide to payout thresholds shows how to read them, and the payout rules are on our site. Ready to place an order? Read the refund policy first.

A holiday checklist to save

Copy this into your notes and fill it in before each holiday.

• Holiday and date:
• Contract I trade:
• Exchange open, early close and reopen times (exchange time zone):
• Same times in my local time:
• Firm flat time or holding rule:
• Auto-liquidation at the early close? Yes or no (check the rulebook):
• Alerts set at 30 and 10 minutes before the earliest deadline:
• Plan: trade and flatten, or sit out:
• Positions and working orders confirmed flat:

If you pass an evaluation and are planning your withdrawals, our guide to the risk math for three drawdown types helps you size trades around the floor on shortened days.

FAQ

Do prop firms close on U.S. holidays?

The exchange sets whether a contract trades, and many futures trade modified hours instead of closing completely. A firm's own platform or support desk may follow different hours, so check both the exchange calendar and the firm's rulebook. Profirms accounts are simulated, so confirm the details in the Help Center before the holiday.

Where can I find futures holiday trading hours?

Use the exchange's own holiday page for your contract. CME Group and ICE both publish holiday schedules, and exchange notices carry contract-specific changes. Convert the times to your local zone before you rely on them.

Can I hold a position through a holiday weekend?

That depends on the firm's rules and your own risk tolerance. Even when the exchange allows it, a firm may require positions to be flat at a set time. A longer closure also means a bigger potential gap when the market reopens, so read the rulebook first.

Does the drawdown floor move during a holiday session?

At Profirms the max-loss floor never trails intraday. It is locked at the previous day's close under our end-of-day drawdown. You can follow your distance to it with the free tracker.

Do I lose trading days if the market is closed?

Not at Profirms. There is no consistency rule and no minimum trading days. Other firms may count days differently, so check each rulebook.

Sources

• Holiday and trading hours, exchange Globex schedules
• Holiday hours for futures markets and clearing houses
• 2026 Christmas holiday trading schedule notice for futures contracts

Recommended

• Prop Firm Fees Explained: What Getting Funded Really Costs
• Prop Firm Scaling Plans: How They Work and What to Check
• Prop Firm Rules: The Five Core Risk Controls That Trip Traders
• Payout Thresholds in Prop Firms: How to Read Them

Risk disclosure: Trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. Profirms runs simulated evaluation and funded trading programs, is not a broker-dealer or futures commission merchant and does not provide investment advice. Hypothetical or simulated performance results have inherent limitations, and no representation is made that any account will achieve profits or losses similar to those shown. Past performance is not indicative of future results.