SIFMA Holidays & Trading Hours

SIFMA stands for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. It is the leading trade association that represents securities firms, investment banks, and asset managers operating in the U.S. and global capital markets. SIFMA's mission is to promote policies and practices that expand and perfect markets, foster new products and services, create efficiencies for member firms, and preserve public trust.

They are particularly well known for publishing recommended market close calendars for U.S. bond markets.

SIFMA Holidays are recommendations issued by SIFMA for holiday schedules and early market closes for specific fixed income markets, especially bond markets, in the U.S., U.K., and Japan. These recommendations cover the trading of U.S. dollar-denominated government securities, mortgage- and asset-backed securities, over-the-counter investment-grade and high-yield corporate bonds, municipal bonds, and secondary money market trading in bankers' acceptances, commercial paper, and Yankee and Euro certificates of deposit. These guidelines are not laws or exchange rules but are widely followed by dealers, banks, and trading desks to keep market activity consistent.

SIFMA publishes holiday recommendations to create a standardized schedule for bond and other fixed income markets.

Without a common calendar, market participants, trading desks, and clearing systems could operate on different schedules, leading to confusion, settlement issues, and reduced liquidity. By coordinating market closures and early closes across participants, SIFMA helps ensure smoother operations, predictable liquidity, and more efficient post-trade processing, supporting broader market resilience and business continuity.

SIFMA holiday recommendations are followed by most major participants in the fixed income markets, including:

• Primary dealers in U.S. Treasuries
• Investment banks and broker-dealers
• Commercial banks with bond trading operations
• Asset managers and fixed income funds
• Clearing firms and settlement systems
• Market infrastructure providers that support bond trading

While not legally binding, these recommendations are widely adopted, so the vast majority of U.S. bond market activity aligns with the SIFMA calendar.

SIFMA issues two types of recommendations:

• Close means that the specified fixed income markets are entirely closed for the entire trading day.
• Early Close means that the markets close earlier than their usual operating hours. It is important to note that early close recommendations do not affect the closing time for settlements.

SIFMA has a policy on unscheduled changes in trading hours. Generally, market participants should not expect alterations in trading hours if critical market infrastructures, such as Fedwire, continue to operate either through their primary locations or through robust business continuity arrangements. This policy also applies to severe weather events. Unscheduled market closings are considered extraordinary events and are usually deemed unnecessary due to the industry's significant improvements in business continuity and resilience planning.

In the event of a significant incident affecting the financial system, SIFMA helps coordinate industry business continuity planning efforts through its Emergency Crisis Management Command Center. For details on specific unscheduled events SIFMA publishes an Unscheduled Close Market Matrix.

SIFMA publishes its holiday recommendations for U.S., U.K., and Japan well in advance.

TradingHours.com tracks this data closely and makes the data available immediately through our Trading Hours & Market Holidays API.

Yes. TradingHours.com includes SIFMA’s recommended full and early close dates for US, UK, and Japanese markets.

Learn more about our Trading Hours & Market Holidays API.