When planning a strategy or reviewing annual returns, many people make the mistake of using all 365 calendar days. However, since the stock market doesn’t operate every day, counting all days can produce misleading results. With India’s investor base expanding stronger than ever, crossing 24 crore unique trading accounts as of January 15, 2026, understanding the exact number of trading days in a year becomes even more important. This blog explains how many trading days in a year and why that figure matters for accurate market analysis.
What is a Trading Day?
A trading day represents any official day when a stock exchange conducts business. In India, this means the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) are operational. During these days, investors can trade securities within standard market hours (9:15 AM to 3:30 PM IST). Weekends and exchange-declared public holidays fall outside this definition.
How Many Trading Days Are There in a Year
The yearly total of trading days varies rather than remaining constant. Understanding this fluctuation matters for precise financial analysis and planning.
Typical Average and Recent Data
The Indian stock market typically sees 250 to 252 trading days annually. This range serves well for long-term financial projections.
For exact figures, consult the official calendar. The NSE’s official circular indicates 246 trading days for 2026.
Why the Number is Not Always the Same
To understand why trading days vary each year, it is because of three primary reasons.
- Holiday schedule: Indian markets close for national holidays and religious festivals. Many festivals follow lunar calendars, so their dates shift. This means the holiday schedule itself varies from year to year.
- Holidays on weekends: If Diwali falls on Saturday, the market is closing anyway. That holiday costs nothing in terms of trading days. But if it falls on Wednesday, you lose a trading day. A year where most festivals land on weekends will have more trading days than one where they fall midweek.
- Leap years: Every fourth year, the calendar gains an extra day, influencing the yearly count. Whether this adds a trading day depends on what day of the week it is. If it’s Tuesday, you gain a day. If it’s Saturday, you don’t.
How to Calculate Trading Days in a Year
Calculating the total number of trading days in a given year is an easy process, though it requires precision regarding market-specific schedules. The calculation can be broken down into three primary adjustments.
- Start with the calendar total, which is 365 days normally, 366 in a leap year.
- Next, remove all the weekends. There are 52 weeks in a year, so subtract 104 days (52 Saturdays plus 52 Sundays).
- Third and the most important, subtract the official market holidays. Use the NSE or BSE calendar for this, not the standard government holiday list. Only count holidays falling Monday through Friday. For example, if Republic Day is on Sunday, you already removed it with the weekends. Don’t subtract it twice.
The final number is your total trading days.
(365 or 366) – (Total Weekend Days) – (Weekday Market Holidays) = Total Trading Days
For example, the calculation for 2026 in India is:
365 (Days in 2026) – 104 (Weekends) – 15 (Weekday Holidays in 2026) = 246 Trading Days.
Trading Days by Quarter, Month & Special Year
Trading days don’t spread evenly across the year. Some months have several holidays. Others have none. Most Indian trading months give you 20 to 21 days. A quarter usually has around 62. But this changes depending on where holidays fall. November 2026, for instance, has multiple holidays, so it’s a shorter month for trading.
Indian trading markets also have the special trading session known as the Muhurat Trading. This is conducted on Diwali Laxmi Pujan day. It happens every year, even when Diwali is falling on a weekend, like it is in 2026.
The table below lists the 2026 NSE and BSE trading holidays:
| Holiday | Date (2026) | Day |
| Municipal Corporation Election (Maharashtra) | January 15 | Thursday |
| Republic Day | January 26 | Monday |
| Holi | March 03 | Tuesday |
| Shri Ram Navami | March 26 | Thursday |
| Shri Mahavir Jayanti | March 31 | Tuesday |
| Good Friday | April 03 | Friday |
| Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Jayanti | April 14 | Tuesday |
| Maharashtra Day | May 01 | Friday |
| Bakri Id | May 28 | Thursday |
| Muharram | June 26 | Friday |
| Ganesh Chaturthi | September 14 | Monday |
| Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti | October 02 | Friday |
| Dussehra | October 20 | Tuesday |
| Diwali – Balipratipada | November 10 | Tuesday |
| Prakash Gurpurb (Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji) | November 24 | Tuesday |
| Christmas | December 25 | Friday |
In addition, a few holidays in 2026 fall on weekends, so they do not affect the total trading day count. These are:
| Holiday | Date (2026) | Day |
| Mahashivratri | February 15 | Sunday |
| Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramzan Id) | March 21 | Saturday |
| Independence Day | August 15 | Saturday |
| Diwali – Laxmi Pujan (Special Muhurat session only) | November 08 | Sunday |
Global Differences: Other Markets Compared
The number of trading days in India is specific to the NSE/BSE holiday calendar. Whereas, trading days in the U.S. stock market and other nations follow a different schedule. A comparison of major global markets includes:
| Country/market | Exchange(s) | Approximate avg. trading days | Market timing (Local Time) |
| United States | New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ) | 252 | 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM (ET) |
| United Kingdom | London Stock Exchange (LSE) | 252 | 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM (GMT) |
| India | National Stock Exchange (NSE), Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) | 247–248 | 9:15 AM – 3:30 PM (IST) |
| Australia | Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) | 251 | 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM (AEST) |
| Hong Kong | Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) | 245 | 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM (HKT) |
| Japan | Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) | 245 | 9:00 AM – 3:00 PM (JST) |
| Singapore | Singapore Exchange (SGX) | 250 | 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (SGT) |
| Canada | Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) | 252 | 9:30 AM – 4:00 PM (ET) |
Why This Number Matters for Traders & Investors
The number of trading days matters for several practical reasons:
- Derivatives pricing
Options pricing depends heavily on time to expiration, measured in trading days, not calendar days. An option’s “Theta” (time decay) speeds up as expiration approaches. A 30-calendar-day option expiring in a month with many holidays has fewer trading days, so it loses time value faster than one expiring in 30 calendar days with no holidays.
- Financial modeling
Most financial models, particularly for options and derivatives, use trading days as a key input. They measure time decay, how quickly an asset like an option loses value as time passes.
- Volatility and risk calculation
Risk metrics like standard deviation use trading day data. Annualised volatility equals daily volatility multiplied by the square root of yearly trading sessions (roughly √250). Using a different number changes the risk calculation.
- Backtesting strategies
When testing a trading idea against historical data, results depend on actual trading days in that period. A strategy tested over a “month” should use the 21 trading days in that month, not 30 calendar days.
- Performance and goal setting
Knowing how many stock market trading days in a year helps with portfolio management. If you’re reviewing performance in October, you know roughly 60-63 trading days are left in the year, not 90.
Practical Tips: Using Trading Day Data in Strategy & Planning
Individuals can use trading day information to improve their market awareness and planning, which include:
- Bookmark the exchange calendar: Find the official market holidays list on the NSE or BSE website at the start of each year. This prevents confusion about market openings.
- Special sessions: Know about unique sessions like Muhurat Trading. This one-hour Diwali session is official but has different timings and often runs on sentiment rather than technical factors.
- Settlement cycles: Settlements (T+1 in India, shares credited one trading day after purchase) count working days. They can be affected by clearing holidays when banks are closed, which sometimes differ from trading holidays.
- Managing expirations: Watch monthly and quarterly expirations for futures and options. In India, these fall on the last Tuesday of the month. If that Tuesday is a holiday, expiry shifts to the previous trading day. This catches some traders off guard.
- Adjust periodic calculations: When reviewing monthly performance, note the actual trading days in that month. A 2% gain in February (19 trading days) differs from a 2% gain in August (22 trading days).
- Differentiate day types: Cross check whether a calculator is using calendar days or trading days for calculation. Banks calculate interest on savings accounts and loans using all 365 calendar days. But when stock market returns or volatility calculations are calculated based on roughly 250 trading days.
- Use averages for long-term planning: If you’re building financial models that look ahead 5 or 10 years, it makes more sense to use a steady average, something like 248 trading days per year for Indian markets, rather than trying to work with 365.
Conclusion
Markets run on trading days, not calendar days. Knowing how many trading days in a year matters because it’s the foundation for calculating risk and returns correctly. This one figure makes the difference between understanding markets properly and just guessing. It affects every calculation you make.
FAQs
There are typically around 250 trading days a year in the Indian stock market. In 2026 specifically, there will be 246 trading days, accounting for weekends and official market holidays observed by NSE and BSE.
A trading day is any official day NSE and BSE are open during regular hours. Weekends and public holidays declared by the exchanges don’t count.
The number varies due to the timing of national holidays, religious and cultural festivals which affect weekdays. If holidays fall on weekends, they do not reduce trading days. Leap years adding extra weekdays also influence the count.
No. Each market has its own calendar. US markets have about 252 trading days. UK markets have a similar count. India typically has 247-250. The difference is holidays and local schedules.
Subtract weekends (104 days) and all official stock market holidays that fall on weekdays from the total calendar days (365 or 366). The result is the total stock market trading days for that specific year.
Around 62, but it varies. Quarters with more holidays have fewer days. April usually has less because multiple festivals cluster there.
In 2026, there will be 246 trading days on Indian stock exchanges, considering the official holiday calendar, weekends, and the effect of holidays coinciding with weekends, based on the NSE/BSE schedule.
