Tell us how you trade and we'll point you to the right research segment.
Talk to Our Team →Start with our beginner-friendly guides on market basics, order types, and risk management before you place your first trade.
Start Learning → Browse All Articles →MCX holidays are the trading closures published each year for India’s commodity derivatives exchange, and they do not simply mirror the equity market holiday calendar most traders already know. Because commodity contracts run an evening session linked to international markets, and because commodities settle against global benchmarks rather than purely domestic ones, the holiday list has its own logic. This guide explains how that calendar is actually set, why the evening session behaves differently from the day session, how a holiday affects expiry and margin, and — deliberately — does not print a list of dates, because any such list goes stale the moment the exchange issues a revision. What follows is how to think about the calendar and where to check it, not a table to memorise. Why MCX Holidays Don’t Simply Follow the Equity Market Calendar The equity exchanges close on a set of holidays tied largely to domestic events — national holidays, festivals observed across the country, and a small number of settlement-related closures. Commodity trading on MCX follows a related but distinct calendar, because commodities are priced against international references that do not observe the same holidays India does. Crude oil, for instance, is priced with reference to global benchmarks that trade around the clock in other financial centres. If MCX closed on every day those centres also closed, or stayed open on days when Indian markets were shut but global markets were active, the domestic contract would drift away from the international price it is supposed to track. The holiday calendar is built to balance both sets of obligations, which is why it does not look identical to the equity calendar even though both are regulated by the same overarching framework. Trading Holidays vs Bank and Settlement Holidays A further wrinkle is that not every closure relevant to a commodity trader is a full trading holiday in the sense of the exchange itself being shut. Bank holidays can affect settlement and fund transfers even on a day when trading itself continues normally, because the clearing and payment systems the exchange relies on follow the banking calendar for certain processes. A trader who only checks whether the exchange is open, without checking whether banks are closed for settlement purposes on the same day, can be caught out by a payment or margin call that behaves differently than expected purely because of a banking holiday rather than a trading one. How the MCX Holiday Calendar Is Actually Set The exchange publishes its trading holiday calendar for the year in advance, typically as a formal circular issued ahead of the calendar or financial year, and this published list is reviewed and can be amended through the year as circumstances require. A published closure is not necessarily final until the date itself arrives — exchanges occasionally issue revisions, add a special trading session, or adjust hours around a particular event, and traders relying on an old printout of the calendar can be caught out by a change they never saw. Holidays are generally decided with reference to a mix of national public holidays, bank holidays that affect settlement and clearing, and international closures relevant to the specific commodity segments MCX trades. Because the mix of relevant closures differs from what the equity market considers, the two calendars overlap heavily but are not identical — a date that is a full holiday on the equity exchanges might see a shortened or evening-only closure on MCX, or vice versa. Special One-Off Closures and Additional Trading Sessions Beyond the standard annual list, exchanges sometimes announce one-off changes — a special trading session on a date that would ordinarily be a holiday, marking a specific occasion, or an unscheduled closure in response to an exceptional event. These do not follow a fixed pattern and are announced through exchange circulars closer to the date, which is another reason a static list published in an article cannot be treated as complete or current. Why MCX Runs a Day Session and an Evening Session Unlike the equity markets, which trade in a single continuous session, MCX runs a day session and a separate evening session that extends later into the night. The evening session exists specifically to give Indian traders access to price discovery during the hours when major international commodity and energy markets are most active, since many of the benchmarks Indian commodity contracts track are set predominantly during those hours. How International Holidays Affect the Evening Session Because the evening session is where the link to global markets matters most, its holiday treatment can differ from the day session’s. A date that is a full holiday for domestic reasons might still see international markets active, and the exchange has to decide whether the evening session runs, runs for a shortened window, or is closed entirely. This is one of the more overlooked aspects of the calendar — traders who check only whether “MCX is open” on a given date, without checking which session, can be surprised by a truncated evening session on a day they assumed was normal. How a Trading Holiday Affects Contract Expiry Dates Commodity futures and options contracts expire on specific dates set out in the contract specifications, and when a scheduled expiry date falls on a trading holiday, the exchange moves it — typically to the preceding trading day, though the exact convention can vary by contract and is stated in the exchange’s contract specifications rather than being a fixed universal rule. This matters operationally more than it might first appear. A trader working from memory, assuming a contract expires on the same date every cycle without checking the current month’s calendar against the holiday list, can miscalculate how many trading sessions remain before expiry — which affects everything from position sizing to how quickly time value in an options position is expected to decay. It is also worth checking the revised expiry against both the day session and evening session calendars where relevant, since the two can occasionally
MCX holidays are the trading closures published each year for India’s commodity derivatives exchange, and they do not simply mirror the equity market holiday calendar most traders already know. Because commodity contracts run an evening session linked to international markets, and because commodities settle against global benchmarks rather than purely domestic ones, the holiday list has its own logic. This guide explains how that calendar is actually set, why the evening session behaves differently from the day session, how a holiday affects expiry and margin, and — deliberately — does not print a list of dates, because any such list goes stale the moment the exchange issues a revision. What follows is how to think about the calendar and where to check it, not a table to memorise.
The equity exchanges close on a set of holidays tied largely to domestic events — national holidays, festivals observed across the country, and a small number of settlement-related closures. Commodity trading on MCX follows a related but distinct calendar, because commodities are priced against international references that do not observe the same holidays India does.
Crude oil, for instance, is priced with reference to global benchmarks that trade around the clock in other financial centres. If MCX closed on every day those centres also closed, or stayed open on days when Indian markets were shut but global markets were active, the domestic contract would drift away from the international price it is supposed to track. The holiday calendar is built to balance both sets of obligations, which is why it does not look identical to the equity calendar even though both are regulated by the same overarching framework.
A further wrinkle is that not every closure relevant to a commodity trader is a full trading holiday in the sense of the exchange itself being shut. Bank holidays can affect settlement and fund transfers even on a day when trading itself continues normally, because the clearing and payment systems the exchange relies on follow the banking calendar for certain processes. A trader who only checks whether the exchange is open, without checking whether banks are closed for settlement purposes on the same day, can be caught out by a payment or margin call that behaves differently than expected purely because of a banking holiday rather than a trading one.
The exchange publishes its trading holiday calendar for the year in advance, typically as a formal circular issued ahead of the calendar or financial year, and this published list is reviewed and can be amended through the year as circumstances require. A published closure is not necessarily final until the date itself arrives — exchanges occasionally issue revisions, add a special trading session, or adjust hours around a particular event, and traders relying on an old printout of the calendar can be caught out by a change they never saw.
Holidays are generally decided with reference to a mix of national public holidays, bank holidays that affect settlement and clearing, and international closures relevant to the specific commodity segments MCX trades. Because the mix of relevant closures differs from what the equity market considers, the two calendars overlap heavily but are not identical — a date that is a full holiday on the equity exchanges might see a shortened or evening-only closure on MCX, or vice versa.
Beyond the standard annual list, exchanges sometimes announce one-off changes — a special trading session on a date that would ordinarily be a holiday, marking a specific occasion, or an unscheduled closure in response to an exceptional event. These do not follow a fixed pattern and are announced through exchange circulars closer to the date, which is another reason a static list published in an article cannot be treated as complete or current.
Unlike the equity markets, which trade in a single continuous session, MCX runs a day session and a separate evening session that extends later into the night. The evening session exists specifically to give Indian traders access to price discovery during the hours when major international commodity and energy markets are most active, since many of the benchmarks Indian commodity contracts track are set predominantly during those hours.
Because the evening session is where the link to global markets matters most, its holiday treatment can differ from the day session’s. A date that is a full holiday for domestic reasons might still see international markets active, and the exchange has to decide whether the evening session runs, runs for a shortened window, or is closed entirely. This is one of the more overlooked aspects of the calendar — traders who check only whether “MCX is open” on a given date, without checking which session, can be surprised by a truncated evening session on a day they assumed was normal.
Commodity futures and options contracts expire on specific dates set out in the contract specifications, and when a scheduled expiry date falls on a trading holiday, the exchange moves it — typically to the preceding trading day, though the exact convention can vary by contract and is stated in the exchange’s contract specifications rather than being a fixed universal rule.
This matters operationally more than it might first appear. A trader working from memory, assuming a contract expires on the same date every cycle without checking the current month’s calendar against the holiday list, can miscalculate how many trading sessions remain before expiry — which affects everything from position sizing to how quickly time value in an options position is expected to decay.
It is also worth checking the revised expiry against both the day session and evening session calendars where relevant, since the two can occasionally treat the same date differently. Relying on a generic rule of thumb rather than the specific month’s published schedule is one of the more common, entirely avoidable errors around expiry weeks that fall near a holiday.
Holding a position over a holiday, particularly a long weekend created by a Monday or Friday closure, carries a different risk profile from holding it over an ordinary single trading night. International markets that MCX contracts are linked to may continue trading through the closure, meaning news, geopolitical events or supply shocks can move the underlying benchmark while the domestic contract itself cannot be traded to respond.
Exchanges commonly increase margin requirements ahead of an extended closure specifically to account for this gap risk — the possibility that the price gaps significantly higher or lower by the time trading resumes, compared with where it closed before the holiday. The exact adjustment is set by the exchange’s risk management framework and varies by commodity and by how much overnight and international volatility has been running, so it is not a fixed percentage that can be quoted generically. A trader holding a position into a long weekend should check the current margin requirement for that specific contract rather than assuming it matches what applied on an ordinary trading day.
MCX and NCDEX are separate commodity exchanges, and while their holiday calendars overlap substantially — both close for most major national holidays — they are not guaranteed to be identical on every date. MCX’s calendar leans toward the metals and energy contracts it specialises in, with their international linkages; NCDEX’s calendar reflects agricultural commodities, which have their own settlement and delivery considerations.
A trader active on both exchanges should check each exchange’s own published calendar rather than assuming a holiday on one automatically applies to the other. Treating the two as interchangeable is a small but avoidable error.
This distinction matters most around dates that are significant for one commodity category but not another — an agricultural procurement-related closure that affects NCDEX contracts, for example, has no particular reason to affect MCX’s metals and energy contracts, and the reverse holds too. Cross-checking both calendars independently, rather than assuming symmetry, avoids missing a closure that only applies to whichever exchange a given position sits on.
The only reliable source for the current holiday calendar is the exchange’s own circulars and its official trading calendar page, published and updated directly by MCX. A broker’s app or website will often mirror this information, but the exchange’s own circular is the primary source and the one to check if a broker’s listing looks inconsistent, incomplete, or simply outdated.
This article deliberately does not reproduce a specific list of 2026 dates. Exchange circulars are amended during the year, and a static list printed here would eventually be wrong without any way for a reader to know it had changed. Before placing a trade around a suspected holiday, or holding a position into one, check the exchange’s current circular directly — it takes a few minutes and removes any doubt.
A useful habit is to check the calendar at the start of each month rather than once a year. Amendments tend to be issued with only days of notice, so a calendar checked in January may already be out of date by an expiry falling later in the year. Bookmarking the exchange’s own notices page, rather than a third-party summary, is the most reliable way to catch a late revision before it affects an open position.
Not always. The calendars overlap heavily for national holidays but are not identical, since MCX’s evening session and international linkages create closure decisions that don’t apply to the equity exchanges. Always check MCX’s own calendar rather than assuming it matches the equity holiday list.
The exchange adjusts the expiry date, usually to the nearest preceding trading day, as set out in that contract’s specifications. Check the specific contract’s revised expiry once the holiday calendar for the relevant month is published.
Not necessarily. Because the evening session is more closely tied to international market hours, its closure decisions can differ from the day session’s, particularly around dates where domestic and global market schedules don’t align. Check the session-specific notice rather than assuming both sessions follow the same rule.
Directly from the exchange’s official circulars and trading calendar page, which is updated whenever a change is made. This is the authoritative source; treat any third-party list, including this article, as a starting point to verify rather than a final answer. Note also that some closures are tied to fixed-date national holidays and recur predictably each year, while others follow festivals that move on the calendar from year to year, or arise from one-off circumstances the exchange decides on — which is exactly why a printed list from a previous year should never be assumed to carry over unchanged.