Forex Holidays 2026: Christmas and New Year Trading Hours, Thin Liquidity and Gaps

Short answer: the forex market does not close for the holidays everywhere at once, but your broker effectively does. Over the 2025–26 holidays, brokers shortened trading on 24 and 31 December and closed forex on 25 December and 1 January. In 2026 both Christmas Day and New Year's Day fall on a Friday, so if brokers follow last year's pattern, each closure will run straight into a weekend. Expect thin liquidity, wider spreads and the risk of price gaps from roughly mid-December to the first days of January.

The official 2026 schedules are not out yet. As of 23 October 2026, every broker notice we could find covered the 2025–26 period. This guide uses those notices as precedent and tells you what to check once your broker publishes its own.

Why the holidays change the forex market

Forex is a decentralised market traded through dealing desks around the world. According to the BIS Triennial Survey, turnover averaged $9.6 trillion a day in April 2025, and sales desks in just four places, the UK, the US, Singapore and Hong Kong, handled 75% of it. When those centres slow down or close for Christmas and New Year, most of the market's liquidity goes with them.

Thinner liquidity has predictable effects. Brokers quote wider spreads because fewer counterparties are on the other side, prices can jump between levels instead of moving smoothly, and a relatively small order can move the price. Our guide to trading sessions and liquidity explains why the time of day already decides your spread; the holidays push the same effect to an extreme.

What brokers did over the 2025–26 holidays

These are last year's published schedules, not the 2026 ones. They show the typical shape.

OANDA (EU). OANDA's holiday notice, published on 23 December 2025, listed:

The notice does not state a time zone for these times, which is itself a lesson: check what clock your broker's notice uses.

FXOpen. FXOpen's 2025–26 schedule, in GMT+2, ended XAU/USD trading at 20:45 on 24 December and stated for both 25 December and 1 January: "FX, Indices CFD, US Stocks CFD and Commodities CFD — trading closed." It added that "liquidity may be reduced and volatility may increase around the holidays" and that "the hours above are subject to change".

Two patterns stand out. First, the eves (24 and 31 December) are shortened days, with metals and indices closing before forex. Second, the holidays themselves are effectively closed for retail forex, with a late-evening reopening at some brokers.

Why 2026 is different: Friday holidays

In 2026, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve fall on a Thursday, and Christmas Day and New Year's Day on a Friday. If brokers follow last year's pattern, a closure on Friday 25 December would join the normal weekend closure, and the next full session would only begin when the market reopens for the new week. The same applies to Friday 1 January 2027.

That turns a one-day break into a long one. For anyone holding positions, the risk is the gap: if news breaks while the market is shut, the first price after reopening can be far from the last one before the close. Stops do not protect you from that. As our guide to stop orders explains, an ordinary stop-loss becomes a market order once triggered and is filled at the next available price, which after a gap can be much worse than your level. Only a guaranteed stop, where a broker offers one, fixes the exit price, and it usually carries a fee.

A worked example: what a holiday gap does to a stop

The numbers below are an illustration, not a quote from any market or broker.

Suppose you are long EUR/USD at 1.0850 with a stop-loss at 1.0820, risking 30 pips. Trading closes for the holiday at 1.0845. When it reopens, the first available price is 1.0790.

• Your stop at 1.0820 was never tradable: the price jumped straight past it.
• The stop becomes a market order and is filled at or near 1.0790, so the loss is about 60 pips, twice what you planned.
• If the spread is wider than usual at the reopening, the fill can be worse still.

That is why position size, not the stop alone, is your real protection over a long closure. Size the trade so that a loss of two or three times your planned risk would still be bearable, or do not hold it over the break.

What to do before the break

Before mid-December

• Find your broker's notice. Most publish holiday hours in December on a news or notices page and in the platform mailbox. Note the time zone used.
• Check the instruments you trade. Forex, gold, indices and shares often have different hours on the same day.
• Read the swap policy. Overnight financing still applies to positions you hold. Our guide to swap and rollover fees explains how it is calculated.

In the holiday weeks

• Trade smaller, or not at all. Wider spreads raise the cost of every trade, and erratic prices make stops easier to hit. Many traders simply take the period off.
• Decide about open positions in advance. Close them, reduce them, or hold them with a position size that survives a gap. Do not decide at 22:55 on Christmas Eve.
• Keep spare margin. Under the UK and EU retail rules, the broker must start closing positions once your funds fall to 50% of the margin required, as the FCA's CFD rules state. Our article on the 50% close-out rule shows when that happens. A gap at reopening can take you there before you can react.
• Expect pending orders to be filled at reopening. Limit and stop orders left in the market may trigger on the first prices after the break.

In early January

• Let liquidity return. The first sessions of the year can still be thin. Spreads usually normalise as the major centres return to full staffing.

Holiday checklist

If you are choosing a broker before the holidays

Pick a regulated broker for your country first; hours are similar across the industry, protections are not. XTB holds FCA, KNF and CySEC licences, as our XTB review explains, and you can visit XTB to see its conditions in your country. We earn a commission if you open an account through our links; it does not change anything written above. Whichever broker you use, its own holiday notice is the schedule that applies to you, so read it when it is published.

Risk Warning

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 51–89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.