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24 Dec to 1 Jan 2027: which markets shut, which close early, and a spread budget

Plan for the Christmas stretch of 2026 as a list of dates instead of a vibe.

Thursday 24 December: the NYSE cash session closes at 13:00 New York time, 18:00 London. The US bond market's recommended early close is 14:00 New York, 19:00 London.

Friday 25 December: New York stock and bond markets are shut, UK banks are shut, and the euro area's TARGET payment system is closed.

Monday 28 December: a UK bank holiday, since Boxing Day falls on a Saturday. The US is open as usual.

Tuesday 29 to Thursday 31 December: regular days in the calendar, but with many desks half staffed.

Friday 1 January 2027: the NYSE and UK and euro area are all closed.

Spot FX keeps trading through most of this, since it runs 24 hours on weekdays. What changes is who is on the other side of your order. If you scalp with a 10 pip stop on EURUSD and a 0.8 pip spread, that spread is 0.08R. Let it double to 1.6 pips and it's 0.16R, with fills that may be thin. The same risk of 1% on $10,000 is 1.0 lot with a 10 pip stop, $8 of spread per round trip at normal levels and $16 at doubled ones.

A reasonable plan is half size, 0.5% risk, plus a spread cap. Check your broker's holiday schedule, since CFDs on indices can close earlier than spot FX.

A quick count helps with expectations. Between Thursday 24 December and Friday 1 January there are only four and a half US stock market sessions, since the 24th is a half day and the 25th and 1 January are closed. So most of the stretch has less than a normal flow of orders, even where it isn't a holiday. Scalping setups that depend on follow-through, such as breakouts from the Asian range, tend to have fewer participants behind them. I'd expect more false moves, but I haven't measured it, and the right test is your own journal for last year's same dates, if you have it.

Spread budgeting gets easier with a number. Say your edge on EURUSD is 0.15R per trade after costs under normal spreads, and a typical stop is 10 pips. If the spread rises from 0.8 to 1.6 pips, the added cost is 0.08R per trade, so the net edge drops from 0.15R to 0.07R, about half. At 2.5 pips, the added cost is 0.17R and the edge turns negative at minus 0.02R. So a cap at 1.5 pips keeps a bit more than half the edge, and above 2.3 pips the edge is gone. Replace my 0.15R with your own number.

Broker hours deserve a look because they vary and the changes are often posted a few days beforehand. Check three things: when the platform's server time rolls over on the 24th and 31st, whether the swap or rollover charge on the Wednesday is tripled or not that week, and whether your CFD instruments such as US indices or gold have shortened sessions. A position carried into an early close can face a gap at the reopening. If you leave anything open over the 25th, check the stop is placed where an unscheduled gap would still leave you within your daily limit.

Here is the schedule I'd write down for a $10,000 account that normally risks 1% a trade, $100, with a 3% daily cap, $300. Thursday 24th: stop trading by 18:00 London, when the NYSE closes. Friday 25th: nothing. Monday 28th: 0.5% risk, $50 a trade, cap of three stops, $150. Tuesday 29th to Thursday 31st: the same half size, and a spread cap. Friday 1st: nothing. That is at most $150 a day of loss against the usual $300, and if the week turns out to be fine you've lost a little profit, which is the cheap side of the bet.