Live status, 2026 calendar and Asia/Tokyo timezone
The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) opens at 09:00 and closes at 15:30, Tokyo time, Monday to Friday. Unlike European exchanges, it splits the session into two parts with a one-hour midday break: morning (09:00–11:30) and afternoon (12:30–15:30).
Its benchmark index is the Nikkei 225, which groups 225 companies selected for liquidity and sector balance.
Japan does not observe daylight saving time. It is the UK that changes its clocks: nine hours in winter (GMT) and eight hours in summer (BST), which means the Japanese session runs through the night and the very early morning for a Europe-based trader.
This page covers the exact Tokyo Stock Exchange hours, the 2026 holiday calendar, the highest-liquidity windows on the Nikkei 225 and the conversion to London time.
The session lasts five and a half hours of effective trading, split into two parts. The reference time zone is Asia/Tokyo: JST (UTC+9), with no seasonal change. The Tokyo Stock Exchange is one of the largest in the world by market capitalisation and concentrates the trading of stocks such as Toyota, Sony, Panasonic, Mitsubishi and SoftBank.
| Session | Tokyo time (JST) | London winter (GMT) | London summer (BST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning | 09:00 – 11:30 | 00:00 – 02:30 | 01:00 – 03:30 |
| Midday break | 11:30 – 12:30 | 02:30 – 03:30 | 03:30 – 04:30 |
| Afternoon | 12:30 – 15:30 | 03:30 – 06:30 | 04:30 – 07:30 |
The continuous trading of the Tokyo Stock Exchange covers five and a half hours a day. Around that window, further phases come into play where the official prices of the Nikkei 225 are set and a large share of the volume concentrates.
Pre-opening from 08:00 to 09:00
Orders enter the book but do not execute. At 09:00, an opening auction (Itayose method) crosses the accumulated supply and demand and sets the official opening price.
Continuous trading from 09:00 to 11:30 and 12:30 to 15:25
Orders are matched in real time as compatible prices appear (Zaraba method, equivalent to the Euronext model).
Midday break from 11:30 to 12:30
The session pauses for an hour. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore keep it; European exchanges scrapped it decades ago. From 12:05, orders are accepted again for the reopening auction.
Closing auction from 15:25 to 15:30
Introduced in November 2024 alongside the extended hours. Continuous trading stops, orders are accepted but do not execute, and at 15:30 an Itayose auction sets the official closing price, the reference for valuing the Nikkei 225 and settling index-linked products.
In 2026, the Tokyo Stock Exchange is closed 19 days: 17 Japanese national holidays and two exchange-specific closures, at New Year and year-end. The Tokyo Stock Exchange does not schedule half-days: every marked day is a full closure. Two stretches concentrate most of the no-session days: Golden Week (29 April and 4–6 May) and the autumn equinox window (21–23 September).
| Date | Holiday | Session |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 1 January 2026 | New Year’s Day | Closed |
| Friday 2 January 2026 | Exchange Holiday (New Year) | Closed |
| Monday 12 January 2026 | Coming of Age Day | Closed |
| Wednesday 11 February 2026 | National Foundation Day | Closed |
| Monday 23 February 2026 | Emperor’s Birthday | Closed |
| Friday 20 March 2026 | Vernal Equinox Day | Closed |
| Wednesday 29 April 2026 | Shōwa Day | Closed |
| Monday 4 May 2026 | Greenery Day | Closed |
| Tuesday 5 May 2026 | Children’s Day | Closed |
| Wednesday 6 May 2026 | Constitution Day (substitute holiday) | Closed |
| Monday 20 July 2026 | Marine Day | Closed |
| Tuesday 11 August 2026 | Mountain Day | Closed |
| Monday 21 September 2026 | Respect for the Aged Day | Closed |
| Tuesday 22 September 2026 | Citizens’ Holiday | Closed |
| Wednesday 23 September 2026 | Autumnal Equinox Day | Closed |
| Monday 12 October 2026 | Sports Day | Closed |
| Tuesday 3 November 2026 | Culture Day | Closed |
| Monday 23 November 2026 | Labour Thanksgiving Day | Closed |
| Thursday 31 December 2026 | Year-end Exchange Holiday | Closed |
Some dates vary each year: the equinoxes shift by a day or two, several holidays are floating Mondays, and national holidays that fall on a Sunday move to the next working day that is not already a holiday. Gap risk spikes when the session reopens after a closed day: the price can jump several percentage points from the previous close, with no intermediate trading to cushion it.
On days when only Tokyo is closed and the other venues trade normally, the volume and volatility of the Nikkei also desynchronise from the rest of the markets. If your strategy holds positions over several days, mark these dates in your calendar.
Tokyo shares its time zone with Seoul. The other big Asian exchanges trade an hour behind, except Sydney, which runs on southern-hemisphere summer time. Several of these venues include a midday break, a feature European exchanges removed decades ago.
| Exchange | Open | Close | Time zone |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇯🇵 Tokyo (TSE) | 09:00 | 15:30 | JST (UTC+9) |
| 🇰🇷 Seoul (KRX) | 09:00 | 15:30 | KST (UTC+9) |
| 🇨🇳 Shanghai (SSE) | 09:30 | 15:00 | CST (UTC+8) |
| 🇭🇰 Hong Kong (HKEX) | 09:30 | 16:00 | HKT (UTC+8) |
| 🇸🇬 Singapore (SGX) | 09:00 | 17:00 | SGT (UTC+8) |
| 🇦🇺 Sydney (ASX) | 10:00 | 16:00 | AEST/AEDT (UTC+10/+11) |
See live hours for 18 exchanges worldwide →
The Tokyo session is not concurrent with the European or US markets, which makes it a good way to track the first reactions to overnight news.
| Window (GMT) | Active markets |
|---|---|
| 00:00 – 02:30 | Tokyo (morning) only |
| 03:30 – 06:30 | Tokyo (afternoon) only |
| 08:00 – 16:30 | Europe (no overlap with Tokyo) |
| 14:30 – 21:00 | US + Europe (no overlap with Tokyo) |
The Japanese yen (JPY/USD, JPY/EUR) reacts strongly during the Tokyo session. The JPY currency pairs are therefore the most active between 00:00 and 06:30 GMT.
Since April 2022, the Tokyo Stock Exchange has been organised into three markets (Prime, Standard and Growth) that replaced the former sections: First Section, Second Section and Mothers Market.
The two benchmark indices are the Nikkei 225 (a basket of 225 stocks) and the TOPIX, a broad free-float market-cap-weighted index covering a large part of the market.
The Tokyo session runs between 00:00 and 06:30 London time. It is rarely watched live by European traders, but here are the cases where it can be worth following.
ProRealTime gives access to the Japanese indices and JPY pairs through its data feeds. The Asian session is available in the session configurator.
Monday to Friday, except the holidays listed above. Two stretches of the year concentrate the closed days: Golden Week (29 April and 4–6 May) and the autumn equinox window (21–23 September). The widget at the top of this page shows the live status.
At 09:00 local time (JST, UTC+9). In London time, at 00:00 in winter and 01:00 in summer. The pre-opening starts at 08:00, but no order executes before the 09:00 opening auction.
Continuous trading stops at 15:25 local time. The next five minutes are the closing auction, and at 15:30 the official price is set. In London time: at 06:30 in winter and 07:30 in summer.
It is a feature inherited from the era before electronic trading. Most Asian exchanges keep it (Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore); the European ones removed it decades ago. In Tokyo it runs from 11:30 to 12:30 local time.
No. Japan does not apply seasonal clock changes. The difference with Europe varies by season because it is Europe that changes: nine hours in winter, eight in summer (London time).
Not on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Some stocks such as Toyota, Sony or Honda have ADRs listed in the United States, accessible during the US pre-market and after-hours. Liquidity outside the Tokyo session is very low and spreads widen quickly.
The most common options are ETFs that track the index, mini-Nikkei futures and individual component stocks through their US-listed ADRs. ETFs are the simplest route for passive exposure: UCITS versions are available at any European broker, with no yen account needed. Mini-Nikkei futures let you trade the Japanese session live and are listed on several venues (Osaka, Singapore, CME), but require more margin and an understanding of the quarterly expiries. Buying individual stocks makes sense if you want to pick specific companies (Toyota, Sony, Honda…) rather than the full basket.
The Nikkei 225 is a price-weighted index (like the Dow Jones) that groups 225 stocks selected for liquidity and sector balance. The TOPIX, by contrast, includes around 1,700 stocks from all segments of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (Prime, Standard and Growth) and weights them by market capitalisation. They are complementary, not equivalent.
Maxime holds two master’s degrees from the SKEMA Business School and FFBC. As founder and editor-in-chief of NewTrading.fr, he writes daily about financial trading.
