Market hours and settlement (India)

🎯 In 30 seconds: Indian shares trade Monday to Friday, except exchange holidays. The day opens with a pre-open call auction from 9:00 to 9:15 am IST, then continuous trading until 3:30 pm. Since 3 August 2026, stocks that have futures and options close with a closing auction instead, and SEBI has moved that auction to 3:30 to 3:40 pm from 7 December 2026. Trades settle on T+1: shares you buy today reach your demat account on the next working day. An optional same-day T+0 cycle exists for a list of large companies, but few brokers offer it. There is no after-hours trading in Indian shares, so news that breaks in the evening waits until the next morning's auction.

The trading day at a glance

All times are IST, for the equity cash market on NSE, as of October 2026. BSE runs a matching schedule.

Not to scale. Stocks without futures and options trade continuously until 3:30 pm and do not use the closing auction.

Time (IST)	Session	Who it matters to
8:45 to 9:00 am	Morning block deal window	Large negotiated trades by institutions, at prices linked to the previous close
9:00 to 9:15 am	Pre-open call auction	Everyone: sets the opening price
9:15 am to 3:30 pm	Continuous trading (normal market)	Everyone
2:05 to 2:20 pm	Afternoon block deal window	Institutions
Last part of the day	Closing auction session (stocks with F&O)	Anyone trading those stocks near the close
3:50 to 4:00 pm	Post-close session	Orders executed only at the official closing price

Equity futures and options run on their own hours: 9:15 am to 3:40 pm since 3 August 2026. From 7 December 2026, index and stock derivatives trade until 3:45 pm, except that expiring index contracts stop at 3:30 pm on their expiry day.

The pre-open auction, 9:00 to 9:15 am

The market does not open with one random trade. For 15 minutes, orders are collected, then matched all at once at a single equilibrium price: the price at which the largest number of shares can trade. That price becomes the day's open.

NSE changed the inside of this window from 7 September 2026. The total time is the same, but market orders now have a shorter entry period:

Time	What happens
9:00 to 9:05 am	Enter, modify or cancel both limit and market orders
9:05 to 9:10 am	Limit orders only. Market orders can no longer be entered, changed or cancelled. Order entry closes at a random moment in the last two minutes.
9:10 to 9:12 am	Matching: opening price worked out and trades confirmed
9:12 to 9:15 am	Buffer: switch to continuous trading

Before the change, order entry ran from 9:00 to about 9:08 am. Some details for you as an investor:

Random closure stops anyone placing a large last-second order to push the opening price.
Market orders get priority in the matching, then limit orders by price and time.
Stop loss and immediate-or-cancel orders are not allowed in the pre-open, and trades made in it cannot be cancelled.
During the window, NSE shows an indicative opening price for each stock and an indicative open for indexes such as the Nifty 50.

On a stock's listing day after an IPO, a longer special pre-open session is used, and normal trading in that stock starts later in the morning. The same applies to stocks relisting after a suspension.

Continuous trading, 9:15 am to 3:30 pm

This is the session described in How the Indian market works: orders matched one by one on price-time priority. Each stock has a price band for the day (often called its circuit limits), and the whole market can be halted by a market-wide circuit breaker if the Nifty 50 or Sensex moves 10% or more. Details are in The rules every Indian trader runs into.

Brokers usually close intraday (MIS) positions automatically a little before 3:30 pm. The exact time is set by each broker, and Intraday trading covers what happens if you miss it.

The closing auction, in two stages

The official closing price matters: it is used to value portfolios and fund holdings and is the starting point for the next day's trading. SEBI introduced a closing auction session (CAS) in its circular of 16 January 2026 so that this price is set by an auction rather than by whatever trades happen in the last few minutes. It applies to stocks that have futures and options.

Stage 1: 3 August 2026 to 6 December 2026. Continuous trading in these stocks stops at 3:15 pm.

Time	What happens
3:15 to 3:20 pm	Reference price worked out (from trades between 3:00 and 3:15 pm) and transition to the auction
3:20 to 3:25 pm	Enter, modify or cancel limit and market orders
3:25 to 3:30 pm	Limit orders only, random closure in the last two minutes
3:30 to 3:35 pm	Matching: closing price set
3:50 to 4:00 pm	Post-close session at the closing price

Stage 2: from 7 December 2026. After reviewing the first months, SEBI issued a circular on 15 October 2026 that moves and shortens the auction. Continuous trading in these stocks runs to 3:30 pm, like every other stock.

Time	What happens
3:30 pm	One minute to work out the reference price (from trades in the last 15 minutes of continuous trading) and switch over
3:31 to 3:36 pm	Enter limit and market orders
3:36 to 3:40 pm	Limit orders only. Order entry closes at a random moment between 3:38 and 3:40 pm, then orders are matched.
3:50 to 4:00 pm	Post-close session at the closing price

In both stages, only limit and market orders are allowed in the auction (no stop loss orders), and the price can only be set within a band around the reference price (±3% in stage 1). Unfilled limit orders from continuous trading carry into the auction if their price is inside that band. A few further changes on how iceberg orders carry over apply from 8 February 2027. The same circular also changes how expiring derivatives are settled from 7 December 2026: on the volume-weighted average price of the last 30 minutes of continuous trading rather than on the auction price.

Check your app's timings in December 2026

If you trade near the close, the 7 December 2026 change moves the last continuous trade in F&O stocks from 3:15 pm to 3:30 pm. Brokers may also change their intraday square-off times. Read your broker's notice rather than relying on habit.

No after-hours trading

Unlike the US, India has no pre-market or after-hours session for shares. Companies often announce results after 3:30 pm or in the evening, and global news arrives overnight. You cannot react until the next morning.

Worked example: hypothetical Sharma Foods closes at ₹640. At 6:15 pm it reports profit far above expectations. Overnight, buy orders pile up. In the next morning's pre-open auction, the equilibrium price is ₹690, so the stock opens 7.8% higher, a gap. Holders gain the whole gap at once. A trader who was short with a stop loss at ₹650 gets no chance to exit there: the first available price is ₹690. Gaps cut both ways, and they are the main reason stop losses do not limit losses as tightly as people expect (see Stop losses).

Holidays and Muhurat trading

NSE publishes its trading holidays every December for the next year. The holidays it notified for 2026 that are still ahead, as of the end of October 2026:

Date	Day	Holiday
10 November 2026	Tuesday	Diwali Balipratipada
24 November 2026	Tuesday	Prakash Gurpurb Sri Guru Nanak Dev
25 December 2026	Friday	Christmas

Exchanges sometimes amend the list during the year, so check the holidays page on NSE or BSE before planning around a date.

Muhurat trading is a short special session held on Diwali, the start of the new Samvat year, when many families make a token investment for luck. In 2026 it falls on Sunday, 8 November. According to NSE's circular of 19 October 2026:

Block deal session: 1:50 to 2:05 pm
Pre-open: 2:05 to 2:20 pm (same structure as the morning pre-open)
Normal market: from 2:20 pm until 3:30 pm for stocks without F&O; until 3:15 pm for stocks in the closing auction, which then runs to 3:35 pm
Post-close: 3:50 to 4:00 pm

Muhurat trades are real trades: NSE's circular states that they result in settlement obligations, like any other day.

Settlement: T+1

T is the trade day. Under T+1, money and shares change hands on the next working day.

You...	On T (trade day)	On T+1
Buy 20 shares	Money blocked in your trading account. Shares shown in your app as bought but not yet in demat.	Shares credited to your demat account, directly from the clearing corporation
Sell 20 shares from your demat	You authorise the debit (DDPI or TPIN). Sale proceeds shown but not withdrawable.	Shares leave your demat. Money credited to your trading account, then withdrawable to your bank.

India moved the whole cash market to T+1 in January 2023. A few practical points:

Weekends and holidays do not count. Buy on a Friday and the shares arrive on Monday. Buy on Monday 23 November 2026 and they arrive on Wednesday 25 November, because 24 November is a trading holiday.
Selling shares bought yesterday before they reach your demat is possible with most brokers, but if the shares you bought are never delivered (the seller defaults), your own sale can fail too. The exchange then runs an auction, which costs money. Short selling in India explains this.
"Settled" means final. Once shares are in your demat account they are yours at the depository. The trade can no longer be cancelled by you or your broker.

Optional T+0: same-day settlement

SEBI started a same-day (T+0) settlement option as a beta for 25 stocks in March 2024, and in December 2024 widened it to the top 500 companies by market capitalisation, phased in from January 2025. It runs alongside T+1: trades done in the T+0 session settle the same day, while everything else stays on T+1.

In practice, very few brokers offer it. SEBI had required large "qualified" brokers to build T+0 systems, but on 30 October 2025 it extended that deadline with no new date, saying further guidance would follow. We found no later SEBI circular setting a date as of October 2026. If you want T+0, ask your broker whether it is available and what it charges.

Faster settlement does not make a trade safer

T+0 and T+1 change when money and shares move, not how risky the trade is. Same-day settlement is useful if you need the cash quickly. It is not a reason to trade more.

Try it

Open NSE's market data page for the pre-open session between 9:00 and 9:15 am on a working day. Note the indicative opening price of the Nifty 50 at 9:05 and the actual open at 9:15.
Pick a stock that has futures and options. Find its closing price on NSE today and note whether it was set by the closing auction.
Download the 2026 and, when it is published in December, the 2027 holiday list from NSE. Mark the trading holidays in your phone calendar.
If you have bought shares before, open your demat statement and check the date they were credited against the trade date on the contract note. Was it T+1?

Check yourself

At what time can you no longer enter a market order in the NSE pre-open session (as of October 2026)? Answer: 9:05 am. From 9:05 to about 9:10 am only limit orders are accepted.
You buy shares on Friday 20 November 2026. When are they credited to your demat? Answer: Monday 23 November 2026, the next working day.
From 7 December 2026, when does the closing auction run for stocks with F&O? Answer: 3:30 to 3:40 pm, with order entry closing randomly between 3:38 and 3:40 pm.
A company announces results at 7 pm. When can you first trade on the news? Answer: In the next working day's pre-open auction from 9:00 am, with continuous trading from 9:15 am. India has no after-hours session for shares.
When is Muhurat trading in 2026, and do the trades settle? Answer: Sunday, 8 November 2026, with normal trading from 2:20 pm. Yes, the trades result in normal settlement obligations.

🕘 Market hours and settlement: when you can trade and when it is final