In 2026 the Federal Reserve closes on 10 weekdays, from January 1 to December 25. That leaves 251 business days for ACH and wire transfers. 1 holiday falls on a weekend this year.
The Federal Reserve observes 11 bank holidays in 2026, and as of late October three of them are still ahead: Veterans Day on Wednesday, November 11, Thanksgiving Day on Thursday, November 26, and Christmas Day on Friday, December 25. On those days the Reserve Banks are closed and ACH and wire payments do not settle. The one weekend case this year was Independence Day on Saturday, July 4: federal offices closed on Friday, July 3, but the Reserve Banks were open and payments settled as usual.
For payments, that makes ten weekday closures in 2026: the 11 holidays minus July 4, which fell on a Saturday. Branch hours on those days are set by each bank.
All 2026 Federal Reserve holidays
US bank holidays 2026. Dates are the days Federal Reserve Banks are closed.
Only one 2026 holiday falls on a weekend, and none falls on a Sunday. That makes 2026 a simple year, with one exception where holiday lists disagree.
The federal government moves a Saturday holiday to the Friday before, as the Office of Personnel Management explains, so its 2026 list shows Independence Day on Friday, July 3. The Federal Reserve does not. Its published holiday schedule says that for a Saturday holiday the Reserve Banks and branches are open the preceding Friday; only the Board of Governors closes. July 3, 2026 was therefore a normal settlement day for ACH and Fedwire, even though federal offices were closed.
Juneteenth (Friday, June 19) and Christmas Day (Friday, December 25) give 2026 two Friday-to-Sunday breaks for the payment system. New Year’s Day 2027 is also a Friday (January 1), so the Christmas and New Year weekends both start with a Friday closure.
The stock market follows a third schedule. According to the NYSE Group holiday calendar for 2026 to 2028, the NYSE closed on Good Friday, April 3 and on Friday, July 3, 2026, when the Reserve Banks were open. It stays open on Columbus Day and Veterans Day, when the Reserve Banks are closed. It closes early, at 1:00 p.m. ET, on Friday, November 27 and Thursday, December 24, 2026.
Holidays on a weekend in 2026
The Federal Reserve and the federal government handle weekend holidays differently. This is where banks and government offices can be on a different schedule.
Weekend holidays in 2026: Federal Reserve and federal government
As of October 23, 2026, three Federal Reserve holidays remain:
Wednesday, November 11: Veterans Day. A midweek closure. A payment due that day settles on Tuesday, November 10 or Thursday, November 12.
Thursday, November 26: Thanksgiving Day. Friday, November 27 is not a Federal Reserve holiday, so payments settle that day.
Friday, December 25: Christmas Day. Thursday, December 24 is a regular business day for the Reserve Banks. The next closure after that is New Year’s Day, Friday, January 1, 2027.
Are banks open on the 2026 bank holidays?
The Federal Reserve schedule tells you when payments between banks settle. It does not set branch hours. Each bank decides whether its branches and phone lines open on a holiday, and hours can differ from bank to bank. Check your own bank’s holiday notice, or see bank holiday hours, before you plan a branch visit.
What the schedule does decide is whether money can move between banks:
On the ten closure days, such as Thursday, November 26, FedACH and Fedwire do not process payments. A branch that is open can still take your deposit, but a payment to another bank through these systems waits for a business day.
On Friday, July 3, the Reserve Banks were open, so ACH and wire payments settled as on any other weekday.
ATMs, debit cards and mobile apps are run by banks and card networks rather than the Federal Reserve, so a Federal Reserve holiday does not switch them off. When a deposit made that day is credited depends on your bank’s cut-off times and funds availability policy.
Instant payments work differently. The Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service runs 24 hours a day, every day of the week, including weekends and holidays. A transfer between two banks that both offer FedNow can arrive on a holiday; whether you can use it depends on your bank.
Bank holidays 2026: what changes for ACH, direct deposit and wires
ACH payments, including direct deposits, and Fedwire transfers do not settle on the ten Federal Reserve closure days. A payment that would fall on one of them settles on a business day before or after it. Your own deadlines are set by your bank or payroll provider; the times below are the Federal Reserve’s.
ACH transfers and direct deposit
FedACH settles regular next-day and future-dated payments at 8:30 a.m. ET on a business day, and same-day ACH at 1:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. ET, according to the FedACH processing schedule. None of these settlements take place on a Federal Reserve holiday.
For 2026, Federal Reserve Financial Services publishes when FedACH processing ends before each holiday and when it resumes, on its holiday schedule page. For the three holidays still ahead (all times ET):
Holiday
FedACH processing ends
Processing resumes
Veterans Day
Tuesday, November 10, 11:30 p.m.
Wednesday, November 11, 5:30 p.m.
Thanksgiving Day
Wednesday, November 25, 11:30 p.m.
Thursday, November 26, 5:30 p.m.
Christmas Day
Thursday, December 24, 11:30 p.m.
Sunday, December 27, 5:30 p.m.
For Monday holidays the pattern was different: processing ended at 3:00 a.m. ET on the Saturday before and resumed at 5:30 p.m. ET on the holiday, for example from Saturday, October 10 to Monday, October 12 for Columbus Day. For Independence Day, processing ended on Friday, July 3 at 11:30 p.m. ET, after a normal Friday of settlement.
A direct deposit is an ACH credit. Since September 18, 2026, the Nacha Operating Rules require the receiving bank to make a regular (not same-day) ACH credit available by 9:00 a.m. its local time on the settlement date. A direct deposit dated Thursday, December 24 can settle that day; one dated Friday, December 25 cannot. See direct deposit on holidays for more on pay dates.
Fedwire payments
The Fedwire Funds Service treats every Saturday, Sunday and Federal Reserve holiday as a non-business day. On business days it opens at 9:00 p.m. ET the evening before and closes at 7:00 p.m. ET, with a 6:45 p.m. ET cut-off for customer transfers. Banks set their own, earlier cut-offs for wire requests from customers.
A wire that misses the cut-off on Thursday, December 24, 2026 is sent on Monday, December 28, because December 25 is a closure and the weekend follows. One that misses the cut-off on Wednesday, November 25 goes out on Friday, November 27. More detail is on the wire transfers page.
Payroll
The Federal Reserve schedule decides when a payroll file can settle. Your employer and payroll provider decide which day becomes payday when the regular date is a holiday, and their file deadlines come before the Federal Reserve’s.
In 2026, three Federal Reserve closures fall on common pay dates:
Thursday, January 1 (New Year’s Day): pay dates on the 1st of the month.
Friday, June 19 (Juneteenth): Friday paydays.
Friday, December 25 (Christmas Day): Friday paydays, and the one still ahead this year.
Take a company that pays every Friday. Its December 25 payroll cannot settle that day. It can pay on Thursday, December 24 or on Monday, December 28; which one is a policy choice, not a Federal Reserve rule. Friday, July 3 was a normal settlement day.
Transfers between banks
Transfers to accounts at other banks follow the ACH schedule when your bank sends them by ACH, so one you request on a holiday is processed on a later business day. Transfers between two accounts at the same bank do not go through the Federal Reserve and may post on a holiday, depending on the bank. Instant transfers through FedNow are the other exception, as described above. The ACH page explains the timing.
Business days per month in 2026
251 banking business days in 2026: weekdays on which FedACH and Fedwire settle.
Business days per month, 2026
Month
Business days
Weekdays
Fed closures
January
20
22
2
February
19
20
1
March
22
22
0
April
22
22
0
May
20
21
1
June
21
22
1
July
23
23
0
August
21
21
0
September
21
22
1
October
21
22
1
November
19
21
2
December
22
23
1
Total
251
261
10
How many business days in 2026
2026 has 261 weekdays. Take away the ten weekday Federal Reserve closures and 251 business days remain. That is one fewer than 2027 (252) and the same as 2028 (251).
A business day on this page is a Monday to Friday on which the Federal Reserve Banks are open. Friday, July 3 counts as a business day, because a closure of the Board of Governors alone does not stop ACH or Fedwire settlement. The business days calculator uses the same calendar and does not count the start date.
Some counts from that calendar:
Business days left in 2026: counted from Friday, October 23 (not included) through Thursday, December 31, there are 46.
10 business days after Friday, December 18, 2026 is Tuesday, January 5, 2027. Christmas Day and New Year’s Day are both skipped.
5 business days after Friday, November 20, 2026 is Monday, November 30. Thanksgiving Day on November 26 is skipped.
3 business days after Tuesday, June 30, 2026 was Friday, July 3, because July 3 counts.
July has the most business days in 2026 (23), February and November the fewest (19 each).
Other definitions give other totals. Federal employees have 250 workdays in 2026, because their 11 weekday holidays include July 3. A contract or loan agreement can also define “business day” by federal holidays or by its own list. Check the definition in the document before you rely on a count.
7 three-day banking weekends in 2026
Federal Reserve closures on a Monday or Friday. ACH and Fedwire payments do not settle on the holiday, so there are three days in a row without settlement; a payment due that day settles on a business day before or after it.
Will my direct deposit be early because of a holiday?
It depends on your employer. When a payday falls on a Federal Reserve closure, such as Friday, December 25, 2026, the deposit cannot settle that day. Some employers pay on the business day before and others on the next one, so check your pay schedule or ask your payroll department.
Are banks open on Christmas Eve 2026?
Thursday, December 24, 2026 is not a Federal Reserve holiday, so ACH and Fedwire run normally. FedACH processing ends at 11:30 p.m. ET that night for the Christmas break. Branch hours are set by each bank, and the NYSE closes early, at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Are banks open on the day after Thanksgiving 2026?
Friday, November 27, 2026 is not a Federal Reserve holiday, so payments settle as usual. Branch hours vary by bank, and the NYSE closes early that day, at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Was Good Friday a bank holiday in 2026?
No. Good Friday, April 3, 2026, was not a Federal Reserve holiday, so ACH and wire payments settled as usual. The NYSE was closed.
About the 2026 dates on this page
Confirmed: all eleven 2026 holiday dates, and which weekdays the Reserve Banks close, come from the Federal Reserve Board’s published schedule (last updated July 8, 2026) and match the schedule of Federal Reserve Financial Services. The FedACH processing windows come from Federal Reserve Financial Services. Federal government observed dates come from OPM, and stock market dates from NYSE Group.
Calculated: business days per month, the counts above and the three-day weekends are calculated by our holiday engine from those official dates. The Federal Reserve does not publish these counts.
All dates were checked against these sources on October 23, 2026.
Holiday dates last verified against official Federal Reserve schedules on . We check the full schedule every November for the coming year and review each holiday again two weeks before it.
Maintained by the US Banking Holidays Editorial Team. This site is an independent information service and is not affiliated with the Federal Reserve or any commercial bank. Branch hours vary; confirm with your bank before you rely on a date. How we verify our information