Trading Hours

Understanding exchange trading hours is essential when working with historical futures data. Session boundaries determine when bars are generated, when gaps appear, and how overnight activity is captured. All times on this page are in Eastern Time (ET), consistent with how Kibot timestamps its intraday data, "even though Soybean Oil (BO) contract comes from Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the Central Time Zone, we will still use ET (New York) time zone in our data in order to simplify data processing" (per Kibot's Faq on futures time zones).

Exchange Overview

All five exchanges are part of the CME Group electronic trading infrastructure (CME Globex), which provides nearly continuous access from Sunday evening through Friday afternoon.

Hours by Product Group

Equity Index Futures (CME)

Contracts: ES (E-mini S&P 500), NQ (E-mini Nasdaq-100), YM (E-mini Dow), RTY (E-mini Russell 2000), EMD (E-mini S&P MidCap 400), MES (Micro E-mini S&P 500), MNQ (Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100).

Agricultural Grains (CBOT)

Contracts: C (Corn), W (Wheat), S (Soybeans), O (Oats), BO (Soybean Oil), SM (Soybean Meal), RR (Rough Rice).

CBOT grain markets have a pre-open electronic session that pauses before the regular session begins, then resumes during RTH. This creates a gap in the overnight data between 8:45 AM and 9:30 AM ET.

Energy (NYMEX)

Contracts: CL (Crude Oil), NG (Natural Gas), HO (Heating Oil), RB (RBOB Gasoline), QM (E-mini Crude Oil), QG (E-mini Natural Gas).

Precious Metals (COMEX)

Contracts: GC (Gold), SI (Silver), MGC (Micro Gold), SIL (Micro Silver).

Base Metals (COMEX)

Contracts: HG (Copper), PL (Platinum), PA (Palladium).

Currencies (CME)

Currency futures trade nearly 24 hours per day with no separate regular session. The conventional "day session" reference for FX futures is approximately 8:20 AM – 3:00 PM ET, but the Globex session runs continuously.

Contracts: EU (Euro FX), BP (British Pound), JY (Japanese Yen), CD (Canadian Dollar), AD (Australian Dollar), SF (Swiss Franc).

Treasuries (CBOT)

Contracts: TY (10-Year T-Note), FV (5-Year T-Note), TU (2-Year T-Note), US (30-Year T-Bond), UB (Ultra T-Bond), TN (Ultra 10-Year T-Note).

Volatility (CFE)

Contracts: VX (VIX Futures).

Livestock (CME)

Livestock futures no longer maintain a separate open-outcry session. All trading is electronic. Contracts: LE (Live Cattle), HE (Lean Hogs), GF (Feeder Cattle).

Cryptocurrency (CME)

Contracts: BTC (Bitcoin Futures).

Important Notes

Most CME Globex products open at 6:00 PM ET on Sunday (5:00 PM CT), this is when the trading week begins and the first bars of the week are generated.

CME Globex shuts down each weekday from 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM CT (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM ET) for system maintenance. No trading occurs during this window, so a daily gap appears in electronic session data at that time. Kibot's daily futures data uses the 5 PM to 5 PM ET interval as a single trading session, for example, Monday's trading session starts at 5 PM on Sunday and ends at 5 PM on Monday (per Kibot's FAQ on daily vs. intraday futures data).

US market holidays and early close days affect futures trading hours. Some products close early the day before a holiday, and certain holidays result in no trading at all. See Market holidays for specific dates.

When analyzing intraday data, session boundaries create natural gaps. The transition between the regular session close and the next electronic session open, the daily maintenance window, and weekend closures all produce periods with no bars. These gaps are expected and do not indicate missing data.

ET shifts between EST (UTC-5) and EDT (UTC-4). CME Globex hours are defined in CT, which also observes daylight saving. The ET equivalents listed above remain consistent year-round relative to CT. For full details on DST rules and UTC conversion, see Timezone conversion.

Key Takeaways

• Kibot timestamps every futures bar in Eastern Time (ET) by default, regardless of each product's native exchange timezone; the time zone can be changed to suit your needs.
• Most CME Globex products run Sunday 6:00 PM ET through Friday 5:00 PM ET, with a daily maintenance halt from 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM CT (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM ET).
• Regular trading hours (RTH) differ by product: equity index 9:30 AM – 4:15 PM, grains 9:30 AM – 2:20 PM, energy 9:00 AM – 2:30 PM, precious metals 8:20 AM – 1:30 PM, base metals 8:10 AM – 1:00 PM, treasuries 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM, VIX 9:30 AM – 4:15 PM.
• Currencies, livestock, and BTC trade almost continuously with no separate RTH window; livestock closes slightly earlier on Friday (2:55 PM ET).
• Kibot's daily futures bar aggregates a 5 PM – 5 PM ET session, which is why daily OHLCV may not match intraday aggregations.
• Gaps around the daily maintenance window, the Friday close, and the Sunday re-open are expected, not missing data.

Related

• Market holidays, Early closes and full closures that override the standard schedule.
• Timezone conversion, DST rules and converting Kibot's ET timestamps to UTC or local time.
• Futures specifications, Contract-level specs that pair with these session hours.
• Futures expirations, How session hours interact with expiration-day mechanics (e.g., the 9:30 AM ET SOQ).
• Data completeness, What session gaps mean for coverage and bar-count expectations.