We often get asked for the official E-mini S&P 500 (ES) trading hours. The CME Group website has all the hours listed for the various E-mini markets as well as other equities, energies, commodities, and interest rate markets. Click the image below to see the full list.
Highlighted is the regular E-mini S&P 500 market that we trade. Note the time shown are US/Central (currently UTC-5), so that is why 8:30 a.m. open outcry is listed instead of the US/Eastern (UTC-4) equivalent of 9:30 a.m. Therefore, if you want U.S. East Coast time, add an hour to all times shown.
Click the image to see the CME’s full list of trading hours
We find it best to trade during hours of consistent volatility. This means we start looking for trades at the open outcry time (market open), even though the market is open nearly 24 hours. On weekdays, the E-mini S&P 500 is available from 6:00 p.m. EDT the previous day until 5:15 p.m. EDT the current day with a trading halt from 4:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDT. Click here for contract specifics.
