Diwali week always needs a bit of extra planning for traders, but 2026 has more moving parts than usual. Three things are happening in the same seven days, a special Muhurat session on a Sunday, a full market holiday on a Tuesday, and a weekly Nifty expiry that does not fall on its usual day because of that holiday. If you are not tracking all three together, it is easy to get caught off guard with positions you did not mean to carry, or a margin call you were not expecting.

Here is the full week laid out clearly, what changes, why it changes, and how to plan around it.

The week at a glance

Diwali Laxmi Pujan falls on Sunday, 8 November 2026. Since markets do not normally open on Sundays, NSE and BSE run a special one-hour Muhurat trading session that evening instead of a regular session. The following day, Monday 9 November, is a normal full trading day, but it carries extra weight this year because it also happens to be the week's Nifty expiry day, more on why below. Then on Tuesday, 10 November, which is Diwali Balipratipada, both exchanges are closed entirely for regular trading.

So the sequence looks like this, Sunday is ceremonial, Monday is a full trading day that also absorbs the week's expiry, and Tuesday is a clean holiday. Wednesday, 11 November, markets reopen as usual.

What Muhurat trading actually is

Muhurat trading is a symbolic one-hour session held every year on Diwali, timed to an auspicious muhurat, or favourable period, according to the Hindu calendar. It marks the start of the new Samvat year and is widely seen as a good-luck session rather than a serious trading window. This year's session runs from 2:20 PM to 3:30 PM, with a pre-open session starting 15 minutes earlier and trading member login open between 1:15 PM and 1:50 PM.

Volumes during Muhurat trading are typically thin compared to a normal session. Many participants place small, symbolic trades, buying a stock for the new year rather than executing serious strategy. If you are looking to actually trade size during Diwali week, Monday is where the real volume and liquidity will show up, not Sunday's Muhurat window.

Why 10 November is a full holiday

Balipratipada, the day after Diwali Laxmi Pujan, is one of the fifteen weekday trading holidays NSE and BSE observe in 2026. On this day, equity, equity derivatives, and SLB segments are all closed. If you check the commodity derivatives segment specifically, the morning session is closed but the evening session remains open, something to keep in mind if you also trade MCX alongside equities.

This holiday falling on a Tuesday is what creates the next piece of the puzzle, the expiry shift.

Why the Nifty expiry moves to Monday, 9 November

Since September 2025, NSE's weekly Nifty options expire every Tuesday, a cycle change from the earlier Thursday schedule. Normally, that means the Diwali week expiry would fall exactly on 10 November. But because 10 November is a trading holiday, NSE's standard rule kicks in, when a scheduled expiry date lands on a holiday, the contract expires on the previous trading day instead.

The previous trading day before Tuesday, 10 November is Monday, 9 November. So that is where this week's Nifty weekly expiry lands. This is not a one-off special arrangement, it is the same mechanism that shifted the Dussehra-week expiry from Tuesday 20 October to Monday 19 October earlier this season, and the same rule will apply again around Guru Nanak Jayanti later in November.

Sensex weekly options follow a separate Thursday expiry cycle on BSE and are unaffected by this particular holiday, since 10 November falls on a Tuesday, not a Thursday.

Diwali week 2026 schedule, side by side

Date	Day	What happens
7 November	Saturday	Regular weekend closure
8 November	Sunday	Diwali Laxmi Pujan, Muhurat trading 2:20 PM to 3:30 PM
9 November	Monday	Full trading day, Nifty weekly expiry (moved from 10 Nov)
10 November	Tuesday	Diwali Balipratipada, exchanges fully closed
11 November	Wednesday	Normal trading resumes

What this compressed week does to options pricing

A compressed week like this one tends to speed up theta decay in the days leading into Monday's expiry, since there are fewer calendar days between now and expiry but the same amount of time value to lose. If you are holding options into this week, it is worth revisiting how theta behaves in a shortened window, our explainer on theta decay and option premium into expiry covers the mechanics.

Open interest also tends to concentrate more heavily around the new expiry date once traders realise the shift, which can distort where support and resistance levels appear to sit. If you track OI-based levels regularly, our guide on reading support and resistance using option chain OI is useful to revisit before Monday.

Practical points for traders this week

If you are holding weekly options expiring this cycle, remember they settle on Monday, 9 November, not the Tuesday you might be used to marking in your calendar. Set reminders accordingly, since a position you intended to exit "before expiry Tuesday" will actually need action a day earlier.

If you plan to participate in Muhurat trading on Sunday, treat it as symbolic rather than strategic. Liquidity is thin, spreads can be wider than usual, and large positions are better suited to the regular Monday session. For traders looking at swing positions that carry across the holiday, our piece on swing trading strategies for holding positions across expiry walks through how to size positions when a holiday sits in the middle of your holding period.

Settlement timing also shifts around a holiday week. Trades executed just before a full holiday can see their T+1 settlement pushed out by the closed day, so if you are planning to use sale proceeds quickly, build in the extra day. This is the same principle that applied around the Dussehra holiday earlier in October, something we touched on when discussing how traders prepared for a cluster of events around the October F&O series.

Looking at the broader Diwali-week setup

This year's Diwali week does not exist in isolation. It follows a run of large market-moving events, from the Jio IPO listing to the Fed's October decision and the RBI's own rate stance, all of which we have covered as they unfolded. If broader positioning around the festive period interests you, our pieces on defence stocks heading into Diwali and EV stocks for the Diwali season give sector-specific context for how the festive period tends to shape flows.

Volatility around a shortened, holiday-heavy week can also behave differently from a normal one, since fewer trading sessions compress the same news flow into less time. If you are considering range-bound strategies through this period rather than directional bets, our note on the iron condor strategy using the option chain is worth a look, particularly given how compressed this week's trading calendar is.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. What is Muhurat trading and when is it in 2026?

Muhurat trading is a special one-hour Diwali session held on Sunday, 8 November 2026, from 2:20 PM to 3:30 PM, marking the start of the new Samvat year.

2. Why is the stock market closed on 10 November 2026?

10 November is Diwali Balipratipada, the day after Diwali, and is a full trading holiday for NSE and BSE equity and derivatives segments.

3. Why does the Nifty weekly expiry move to Monday, 9 November?

Nifty weekly options normally expire every Tuesday, but since 10 November is a holiday, NSE rules shift the expiry to the previous trading day, which is Monday, 9 November.

4. Does the Sensex weekly expiry also shift this week?

No. Sensex weekly options expire on Thursday under BSE's cycle, so the Tuesday holiday on 10 November does not affect that expiry date.

5. When does normal trading resume after Diwali week?

Regular trading resumes on Wednesday, 11 November 2026, after the Tuesday holiday for Diwali Balipratipada.