Direct answer
The forex market is not tied to a single “open/closed” holiday calendar in the way some exchanges are. So, on Thanksgiving, forex trading may still be open and executable in many cases, but trading conditions can be thinner and platform-specific.
Because forex liquidity shifts by time zone and participant activity, the practical answer depends on (1) your instrument and trading venue and (2) the hours shown by your broker or trading platform for that date.
How forex hours work on holidays
Forex is traded over the counter (OTC) rather than on one single exchange with one uniform timetable. In practice, trading activity follows the overlap of major financial centers (for example, Asia, Europe, and North America) as they move through their local business hours.
Thanksgiving is a public holiday in the United States. When major U.S.-time participants take a holiday, you may see reduced liquidity during the U.S. session hours. That does not necessarily mean forex stops; it often means the market can be less liquid during the period when the U.S. would normally be active.
Also note that “open” can mean different things:
- Order entry/execution: whether trades can be placed and filled.
- Liquidity/price behavior: whether spreads widen or execution slows due to fewer participants.
- Platform session settings: some platforms may adjust their displayed hours or account for holiday liquidity differences.
Example checks you can do
- Identify your relevant timezone. Thanksgiving is observed on different dates depending on the location of a market participant, so use the timezone that matches your trading platform’s hours.
- Check your platform’s market-hours or holiday notice. Many brokers publish holiday schedules that affect order availability and session timings.
- Compare behavior across sessions. If you trade around the U.S. Thanksgiving window, watch whether spreads and execution speed change compared with a normal week.
If your platform shows that the forex instrument is available, it is reasonable to expect trading to continue, even if liquidity is different.
Limitations and uncertainty
This explanation is informational and not based on real-time confirmation for your specific broker or instrument. Whether forex is “open” for you on Thanksgiving depends on your platform’s session rules, your timezone, and liquidity conditions on that day.
Also, holiday conditions can change from year to year and may vary by trading venue. For a definitive answer for your setup, rely on the market-hours information provided by your trading platform for the relevant date and timezone.