Your Complete Guide to MCX Trading Hours in 2026

Most Indian traders know the stock market hours by heart: 9:15 AM–3:30 PM. The Multi Commodity Exchange of India is not that simple. It starts at 9:00 AM but often runs into the night, shifts its evening close with US daylight-saving (DST or Daylight Saving Time), and even treats festivals differently. Mostly because it remains closed in the mornings but stays open after sundown.

This guide cuts through the clutter: when MCX trades, when it doesn’t, and why global crude and bullion markets make its schedule anything but predictable in 2026.

What Is MCX, and Why Does It Matter?

The Multi Commodity Exchange of India was established in November 2003. It is today India's largest commodity derivatives exchange, regulated by SEBI since September 2015. It offers futures and options contracts on over 50 commodities spanning metals like gold, silver, copper and aluminium; energy products like crude oil and natural gas; and agricultural commodities like cotton, kapas and CPO.

MCX holds around 60% market share in India's commodity futures trading, with a market capitalisation of over ₹60,000 crore in March 2026. It has 669 registered members and presence across more than 1,200 cities in India.

For everyday investors, MCX matters because it is where the price of gold in India gets discovered. When you check the gold rate in your city, the jeweller's reference point is almost always the MCX futures price. Same with crude oil. The petrol price revision in India is linked to the movement of crude oil futures, a significant portion of which is benchmarked against MCX contracts.

In 2026, MCX has been anything but quiet. Global commodity markets have been grappling with a geopolitical energy shock — the US-Israel-Iran conflict — that has sent crude oil beyond $100 a barrel, peaking at $119.50 per barrel in mid-March. Read more about it here . Gold hit an all-time high above $5,500 per ounce in early March 2026, before retreating to the $5,000–$5,100 range as institutional investors liquidated positions to cover equity market losses. MCX Silver hit its own all-time high of ₹4,10,000 per kg in late January, while MCX Gold has been trading around ₹1,60,000–₹1,64,000 per 10 grams. These are extraordinary numbers by any historical measure — and they make understanding MCX's schedule more relevant than ever.

The Basic Schedule: Two Sessions, Not One

Most people assume commodity markets work like stock markets: one session, same time every day. MCX does not work that way.

The commodity market operates in two distinct sessions. The morning session runs from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The evening session extends from 5:00 PM to 11:30 PM — or 11:55 PM depending on the time of year.

Why two sessions? Because commodities like crude oil, gold and silver are globally priced. The London Metal Exchange, NYMEX in New York and COMEX are all active during Indian evening hours. If MCX shut at 5 PM, Indian traders would have no way to hedge their exposure against overnight moves in global prices. The evening session exists precisely to bridge that gap.

But not all commodities trade through both sessions. The schedule splits three ways depending on what you are trading.

The Three-Tier Timing Structure

Here is how MCX commodity timings are divided in 2026, as per the exchange circular dated February 10, 2026:

All other agri commodities — chana, jeera, turmeric and other domestically priced agricultural products — trade from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. These are not internationally priced, so no evening session is needed.

Select agri commodities — specifically Cotton, Cotton Oil and Kapas — trade from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM. These three have a global price reference, so the session extends into the evening but closes well before the metals and energy complex.

Non-agricultural commodities — gold, silver, copper, aluminium, zinc, crude oil and natural gas — trade from 9:00 AM all the way to 11:30 PM (summer) or 11:55 PM (winter).

This tiered structure makes logical sense: the longer the global overlap, the later the session.

The DST Twist: Why MCX Changes Its Hours Twice a Year

Here is the part that trips up even experienced commodity traders.

MCX revises its evening session closing time twice a year — not because of anything happening in India, but because the United States observes Daylight Saving Time and India does not.

When the US sets its clocks forward in spring, New York effectively becomes 30 minutes closer to India in time difference. To maintain the same overlap window with US commodity markets, MCX closes 25 minutes earlier: 11:30 PM instead of 11:55 PM.

In 2026, this change came into effect on Monday, March 9. The evening close for non-agri commodities moved from 11:55 PM to 11:30 PM from that date. It will revert to 11:55 PM in the first week of November when US clocks fall back.

One more important note: all intraday positions are squared off 10 minutes before market close — meaning 11:20 PM in summer and 11:45 PM in winter. If you are holding an intraday crude oil position and forget to exit, the system will force-close it for you. This is not a pleasant surprise during a ₹500-move night on gold.

The Holiday Calendar: More Nuanced Than You Think

MCX does not simply follow the NSE or BSE holiday list. It runs its own calendar, and the rules are genuinely different.

Because MCX operates two sessions, holidays can affect one or both. This creates three possible states: both sessions closed, only morning closed with evening open, or morning open with evening closed. Each scenario has different implications for traders holding open positions.

Here is the complete MCX holiday schedule for 2026:

MCX Trading Holiday Calender

Source: MCX

The following holidays fall on weekends and are therefore not additional trading closures: Mahashivratri (February 15, Sunday), Id-Ul-Fitr (March 21, Saturday), Independence Day (August 15, Saturday), and Diwali Laxmi Puja (November 8, Sunday).

A note on Diwali: Laxmi Puja falls on a Sunday in 2026, so the exchange does not need to declare it a weekday holiday. However, Muhurat trading will be conducted on Sunday, November 8, 2026, with the exact timing to be notified closer to the date. This special one-hour session is considered auspicious for beginning new investments — and MCX makes it a point to hold it every year, weekend or not.

What the Holiday Structure Tells You About MCX's Logic

Look at the holiday list carefully and a clear pattern emerges.

Most holidays close only the morning session, leaving the evening session open. This is deliberate. Global commodity markets do not observe Indian festivals. When India is celebrating Holi or Ram Navami, crude oil is still trading in New York, gold is still moving in London, and copper is being priced in Shanghai. If MCX shut the evening session on every festival, Indian traders holding overnight positions in internationally priced commodities would have no way to manage their risk.

The full-day closures — both sessions shut — are reserved for truly national occasions: Republic Day, Good Friday, Gandhi Jayanti, and Christmas. These are days when global trading broadly acknowledges that key markets are disrupted and India's participation in global commodity pricing is minimal.

What Is Currently Happening on MCX in March 2026

The timing of this guide is not coincidental. March 2026 has been one of the most volatile months in MCX's history.

MCX gold futures for April 2026 delivery have slipped below ₹1,60,000 per 10 grams — a significant retreat from the ₹1,63,800 highs seen just days prior, and well off the all-time highs above ₹1,64,000. Silver's correction has been even sharper. After touching an all-time high of ₹4,10,000 per kg in late January 2026, prices have retreated substantially. Silver's industrial component makes it highly sensitive to the global manufacturing slowdown being forecast due to high energy costs.

Crude oil, meanwhile, has been the most dramatic story. MCX crude oil futures surged on the back of the Iran-US conflict, which shut the Strait of Hormuz to tanker traffic. Brent crude surged from around $70 per barrel to well above $100 within weeks, peaking at $119.50 per barrel in mid-March 2026.

For MCX traders, this has meant extended periods of extreme volatility during evening sessions — precisely when US markets are active and global price signals are most intense. The new 11:30 PM closing time, in effect since March 9, means some of this volatility now plays out in the final hour before the market closes. Plan accordingly.

Practical Notes for Traders

Intraday squareoff happens before close. Intraday positions are squared off 10 minutes before session end: 11:20 PM in summer, 11:45 PM in winter. Missing this can result in forced squareoffs at unfavourable prices — especially dangerous on high-volatility nights.

Holiday session checks matter. Before assuming a holiday means no trading, check whether it is a partial or full closure. The majority of MCX holidays in 2026 only shut the morning session. The evening session runs as normal.

The DST transition is already done for 2026. The shift to the 11:30 PM close happened on March 9. The reversion to 11:55 PM will happen in the first week of November.

Weekend holidays are not additional days off. Four of this year's major holidays fall on Saturdays and Sundays. MCX does not trade on weekends regardless — you do not get a compensatory Monday off.

Muhurat trading on Diwali is a real session. Even though Laxmi Puja is on a Sunday this year, MCX will conduct a special Muhurat session on November 8. Timing will be announced closer to the date — typically a one-hour window in the evening.

The Bottom Line

MCX is not a market you can treat casually. Its schedule is built around a genuinely global framework: it adapts to US time changes twice a year, it keeps evening sessions open through most Indian holidays because global prices do not pause for festivals, and it runs nearly 15 hours a day because the commodities it trades never really stop being priced somewhere in the world.

In a year where gold has hit all-time highs above $5,500 per ounce internationally and ₹1,64,000 domestically, crude has crossed $119 a barrel, and silver touched ₹4.10 lakh per kg, knowing exactly when MCX is open and when it is not is not just administrative housekeeping. It is risk management.

The exchange is open from 9:00 AM to 11:30 PM Monday through Friday in the current summer schedule. It has 13 remaining trading holidays in 2026 after March, most of which only close the morning session. The DST reversion in November will push the close back to 11:55 PM. That is everything you need to know to not be caught off guard.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice.