XETRA opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 5:30 PM CET, Monday to Friday. It is the main electronic platform of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, operated by Deutsche Börse AG, where the DAX 40German stock index of the 40 largest companies listed on XETRA, such as Siemens, Volkswagen or Deutsche Bank. is traded.

The main session opens with an opening auction (EröffnungsauktionXETRA opening auction phase (8:55–9:00 AM for the DAX 40): orders pile up in a closed book without executing, then an algorithm sets the official opening price, with a random end.) between 8:55 and 9:00 AM, and closes with a closing auction (SchlussauktionXETRA closing auction phase that sets the official DAX 40 closing price between 5:30 and ~5:35 PM, using a random anti-manipulation mechanism.) between 5:30 and 5:35 PM. Around this session, the Extended Xetra Retail Service opens two extended windows to retail clients via partner brokers: 8:00–8:55 AM in the morning and 5:30–10:00 PM in the evening.

All times on this page are CET (Central European Time, the Frankfurt/Paris zone); London is one hour behind (CET−1). This page details XETRA’s exact hours, the 2026 holiday calendar, the highest-liquidity windows on the DAX 40 and the equivalences with the US exchanges.

XETRA in detail: platform and hours

The XETRA session lasts eight and a half hours: from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM CET, Monday to Friday.

XETRA concentrates more than 90% of trading in German equities. The physical Frankfurt floor still exists, but it handles only a marginal share of volume; the bulk goes through XETRA, which launched in 1997.

The reference time zone is Europe/Berlin: CET in winter (UTC+1), CEST in summer (UTC+2). It is identical to the Paris zone, which means XETRA and Euronext Paris open and close at the same UTC instant, in both summer and winter.

Auction phases: opening, intraday and close

Eröffnungsauktion (opening auction): 8:55 to 9:00 AM. During this short call phase, orders pile up in a closed book without executing, while the XETRA algorithm broadcasts an indicative equilibrium price. The auction unwinds around 9:00 AM, with a random end of a few seconds: the exact time to the second is unknown, which prevents manipulation of the opening price. Continuous trading starts as soon as it unwinds.

Intraday auction: around 1:00 PM. A brief auction interrupts continuous trading in the middle of the day — roughly 1:00 to 1:02 PM for the DAX 40 (5 minutes on Eurex expiry days). It reconcentrates liquidity in the heart of the session.

Schlussauktion (closing auction): 5:30 to ~5:35 PM. Continuous trading stops at 5:30 PM, then the closing auction determines the official closing price, with a random end within the 5:30–5:35 PM window. This price is the reference for calculating the DAX 40, valuing the index-linked derivativesFinancial instruments whose value is calculated from an underlying asset (index, stock). Examples: DAX 40 futures, options, turbos. and settling structured products. For the constituents of the DAX, TecDAX, MDAX and SDAX indices only, a Trade-at-Close then extends trading at the closing price until ~5:40 PM (other stocks stop at ~5:35 PM).

XETRA holidays in 2026

XETRA is closed on seven full trading days in 2026. The official XETRA trading-hours calendar is published by Deutsche Börse.

Date	Holiday	Session
Thursday, January 1, 2026	New Year’s Day	Closed
Friday, April 3, 2026	Good Friday	Closed
Monday, April 6, 2026	Easter Monday	Closed
Friday, May 1, 2026	Labour Day	Closed
Thursday, December 24, 2026	Christmas Eve	Closed
Friday, December 25, 2026	Christmas Day	Closed
Thursday, December 31, 2026	New Year’s Eve	Closed

Like Euronext Paris, XETRA closes on December 26 (Zweiter Weihnachtstag, a German public holiday). In 2026 that day falls on a Saturday, so it has no impact. XETRA closes fully on December 24 and 31, whereas Euronext Paris only runs a half-session on those days.

European exchanges compared

Exchange	Open	Close	Flagship index	Time zone
🇩🇪 XETRA (Frankfurt)	9:00	17:30	DAX 40	CET (UTC+1)
🇫🇷 Euronext Paris	9:00	17:30	CAC 40	CET (UTC+1)
🇬🇧 LSE (London)	8:00*	16:30*	FTSE 100	GMT (UTC+0)
🇮🇹 Borsa Italiana	9:00	17:30	FTSE MIB	CET (UTC+1)
🇪🇸 BME (Madrid)	9:00	17:30	IBEX 35	CET (UTC+1)

*London local time. In Frankfurt time, the LSE opens and closes at the same instant as XETRA (a constant one-hour CET/GMT gap).

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US market hours from Frankfurt

From Frankfurt, the gap with New York is 6 hours for most of the year.

The US exchange hours are as follows.

• NYSE and Nasdaq: 3:30 PM to 10:00 PM CET (9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET);
• US pre-market: 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM CET (4:00 to 9:30 AM ET);
• US after-hours: 10:00 PM to 2:00 AM CET (4:00 to 8:00 PM ET).

A few days a year the gap changes by an hour: Europe and the United States do not switch to summer or winter time on the same weekend (mid-March and late October–early November). During those transition windows, NYSE and NASDAQ open at 2:30 PM CET instead of 3:30 PM.

Best times to trade the DAX 40

To follow the DAX 40 in real time from Europe, ProRealTime gives access to XETRA quotes with the historical data needed for backtesting on German stocks. Try ProRealTime for free.

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FAQ

Is XETRA open today?

Monday to Friday, except on the holidays listed above. The widget at the top of this page shows the live status.

What time does XETRA open?

9:00 AM CET (Europe/Berlin time zone). The opening auction phase runs from 8:55 to 9:00 AM and executes no order before the 9:00 AM unwind. Retail clients can, however, trade earlier, from 8:00 AM, via the Extended Xetra Retail Service (offered by partner brokers).

What time does XETRA close?

Continuous trading stops at 5:30 PM. The Schlussauktion sets the official closing price between 5:30 and 5:35 PM.

What is the difference between XETRA and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange?

The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse) is the legal institution and physical floor, operated by Deutsche Börse AG. XETRA is its electronic trading platform. In practice, more than 90% of German equity trading goes through XETRA.

Do XETRA and Euronext Paris have the same hours?

Yes, exactly. The Europe/Berlin and Europe/Paris zones share the same UTC offset at all times. Both markets open at 9:00 AM and close at 5:30 PM at the same universal instant, in both summer and winter.

Is XETRA really open until 10:00 PM?

Since December 2025, Deutsche Börse has offered the Extended Xetra Retail Service: partner brokers give their retail clients an extended window of 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM CET. The official market session (DAX 40, fixing, institutional volume) remains 9:00 AM–5:30 PM. Outside that window, spreads are wider and liquidity markedly lower.

Which indices trade on XETRA?

The DAX 40 (40 largest caps), the MDAX (50 mid-cap names), the SDAX (70 small-cap names) and the TecDAX (30 tech names). For the active trader, the DAX 40 and its futuresContracts to buy or sell an asset (here the DAX 40) at a price fixed today for delivery at a future date. are the central barometer of the session.