Under normal trading rules the US stock market never closes for more than three consecutive days, even over Christmas or the Fourth of July, while the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges routinely shut for nine days around Spring Festival and National Day.
Start with the number: under normal rules, the US stock market never closes for more than three consecutive days, and that three is just a long weekend. Christmas, Independence Day, New Year — three days at most, no more.
There are exceptions, and they are disaster-grade. After the September 11 attacks, the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq stayed shut for four trading days, reopening on 17 September. You read that right: one extra day.
What everyone else does
The Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges can close for as long as nine straight days when Spring Festival or the National Day holiday rolls around.
Hong Kong takes four days, Taiwan eleven, Japan five, South Korea six, India three.
There is nothing scandalous about the comparison itself — different holiday systems produce different trading calendars. What matters is that a nine-day closure leaves your holdings frozen for over a week while the world keeps going.
Why it matters
Holiday closures are not trivia; they are risk with a price tag. The longer the market is shut, the larger the exposure an investor carries through it, and whatever happens meanwhile — a currency swing, a selloff abroad, a sudden policy move — gets priced in all at once when trading resumes.
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