When Expiry Day Is a Holiday: There Is No 0DTE to Practice That Day
0DTE means expiring today. But if the market does not open that day, there is no 'expiring today' at all — on a holiday no options expire and there are no quotes to watch. Around a holiday week, expiries skip a day, and beginners most often place orders on their usual rhythm and end up on the next trading day's expiry instead. This page first lists the two holidays left in 2026 and the full 2027 table, then explains what the simulator shows on a holiday. The 10 holidays for 2027 are set too: Friday, January 1; Monday, January 18; Monday, February 15; Friday, March 26; Monday, May 31; Friday, June 18; Monday, July 5; Monday, September 6; Thursday, November 25; and Friday, December 24.
Which days are holidays, and which two are left in 2026
US markets close on the NYSE calendar — 10 full holidays a year; the dates change every year, so use the NYSE's official table for 2026, not last year's.
The 8 holidays already past in 2026: New Year's Day, January 1; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 19; Washington's Birthday, February 16; Good Friday, April 3; Memorial Day, May 25; Juneteenth, June 19; Independence Day (observed), July 3; Labor Day, September 7.
Only two are left in 2026: Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26, and Christmas, Friday, December 25; on both days the market is closed all day — no open, no quotes, no same-day 0DTE.
An early close is not a holiday: Friday, November 27 and Thursday, December 24 close early at 1:00 p.m., options at 1:15 p.m., and there is still an expiry to practice that day — see the half-day sessions guide.
How expiries line up in a holiday week
SPX options expire on every trading day, Monday through Friday; when a day is a holiday, that day's expiry simply does not exist — it is not pushed to the next day, so a Thursday holiday does not give Friday an extra expiry.
Thanksgiving week: the Wednesday, November 25 0DTE still expires and settles at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday; Thursday, November 26 is closed with no Thursday expiry; Friday, November 27 is an early close with a Friday expiry closing at 1:15 p.m.
Christmas week: the Wednesday, December 23 0DTE still expires normally on Wednesday; Thursday, December 24 is an early close with a Thursday expiry closing at 1:15 p.m.; Friday, December 25 is closed with no Friday expiry.
The settlement rule does not change: options expiring that day settle on the S&P 500's official closing price at 4:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m. on an early-close day); a holiday changes nothing about this.
What the simulator shows on a holiday
The simulator picks the expiry from the option chain: on a holiday the chain has no same-day expiry, so the home page shows no same-day 0DTE and instead shows the next trading day's expiry, marked 'no valid chain for today, showing the next trading day's expiry (not a 0DTE — check the expiry date)'.
The home-page countdown and the no-new-position reminder follow the expiry shown — what you see on a holiday is not a 0DTE, so do not trade on a 0DTE rhythm; check the expiry date on the ticket before opening a position.
The data age grows: with no new quotes on a holiday, the health check's data age passes 30 minutes and ok turns false — that is the normal holiday state, not a broken service, and no restart is needed.
Positions do not carry overnight into a holiday: a 0DTE expires and settles the same day, so an order left open at the close before a holiday settles that day at the closing price — there is no 'it keeps running after the holiday'.
How to practice in a holiday week
Mark the week's holidays a week ahead: in 2026 the two days left are November 26 and December 25 — do not sit waiting for the open on those days.
The day before a holiday, practice only with small long orders — and close them before the bell; do not hold into settlement to bet on direction.
On the holiday itself, do not practice orders — review instead: read last week's trade log, count the fees, and grade your discipline.
On the first day after the holiday, practice with just 1 contract: confirm the expiry date, the countdown, and the no-new-position time are all back to normal before adding size.
This simulator uses real CBOE option chains delayed about 15 minutes, starts with $10,000 in virtual funds, charges $0.65 per contract per side in fees, and shows P&L net of fees; short-sale margin is a simplified simulated rule at 20% of the strike, not a real broker margin. The simulator is for practicing orders, discipline, and review. It is not investment advice and promises no returns.