Are banks open today? What closed on Columbus Day
Web StoryWatch this story in 15 seconds →Key takeaways
- Most banks were closed on Columbus Day, Monday, October 12. Today, Tuesday, is a normal banking day.
- The stock market stayed open on the holiday. The bond market was closed.
- Mail did not run on the holiday. UPS and FedEx still made deliveries.
Most banks were closed on Columbus Day. The holiday fell on Monday, October 12, 2026. But the stock market stayed open.
That split confuses many people each year.
If you searched "are banks open today," you were not alone. It was one of the most searched questions in the United States on Monday. About 200,000 searches asked about banks, mail, and the stock market.
Here is the simple answer. Monday was a federal holiday. Most banks follow the federal holiday calendar.
So most branches closed. Today, Tuesday, is a normal day. Banks are open again.
This article is for information only. It is not financial advice.
What happened
Columbus Day falls on the second Monday in October each year. In 2026, that was October 12. It is a federal holiday.
That means federal offices close. Federal courts close too.
The same day is also Indigenous Peoples' Day in many places. Former President Joe Biden issued the first presidential proclamation for Indigenous Peoples' Day in 2021. It is not a federal holiday.
But some cities and states mark the day.
Millions of people had the same question on Monday morning. Is my bank open? Will my mail arrive?
Can I trade stocks? The answers were mixed. Some things were open.
Some things were closed.
The confusion makes sense. Columbus Day is a strange holiday. Some parts of the country treat it as a full day off.
Other parts treat it as a normal workday. Your bank, your school, and your office may each follow a different calendar.
What was closed
Most bank branches were closed on Monday. Banks follow the Federal Reserve holiday schedule. The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States.
When it closes for a holiday, most banks close too.
That does not mean your money was locked away. ATMs still worked. Mobile banking apps still worked.
Online banking still worked. You could check your balance and move money online. You just could not walk into a branch and talk to a teller.
Some banks kept a few branches open. Chase kept some branch locations open, according to Barron's. But online transactions still waited until the next day to process.
TD Bank said its locations would be open on Monday. It referred to the holiday as Indigenous Peoples' Day.
If your bank branch was closed, a nearby branch of another bank may have been open. Hours varied by location. The safest move on any holiday is to call your local branch first.
You can also check your bank's app for holiday hours.
The US Postal Service was closed on Monday. All post offices closed. Regular mail delivery stopped for the day.
The Postal Service treats Columbus Day as one of its 11 holidays in 2026. If you waited for a letter on Monday, it will arrive on the next delivery day.
Federal offices and federal courts were closed too. If you had a court date or a federal office visit on Monday, it would have moved to another day.
The bond market was also closed. Bonds are loans that investors make to governments and firms. The bond market follows its own holiday calendar.
It closed for Columbus Day, even though the stock market stayed open.
What was open
The stock market stayed open on Monday. The New York Stock Exchange kept normal hours. The Nasdaq kept normal hours too.
Investors could buy and sell shares all day. That is the key fact many people missed.
After the Labor Day closure on September 7, it was business as usual on Wall Street. The next planned stock market closure is Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26, according to USA Today.
Some parts of the trading world had limits. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the International Exchange stayed open with restrictions. The CME said it would still work out settlement prices.
But it could not process some cash moves until the next day. That was because the banks were closed.
Most foreign stock markets stayed open too. Markets in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Paris, and London all traded. The Toronto Stock Exchange closed for Canadian Thanksgiving.
Private delivery firms kept working. UPS still provided delivery services on Monday. FedEx also delivered, though some services ran on a changed schedule.
That included FedEx Freight, FedEx Office, and FedEx Custom Critical. Some pickups and drop-offs were affected.
Amazon deliveries also went ahead. Grocery stores stayed open. Retail stores and shopping centers stayed open.
Restaurants stayed open. Most private businesses ran a normal Monday schedule.
Why it matters
The split between banks and markets shows how the US system works. Banks and markets do not share one calendar. Each one follows its own rules.
Banks follow the Federal Reserve. The Fed closes on federal holidays. Most banks copy that calendar.
It keeps the payment system in step.
Stock markets follow their own calendar. The New York Stock Exchange closes only nine days a year. Columbus Day is not one of them.
So traders worked while tellers stayed home.
This split can cause real problems. A check may take an extra day to clear. A wire transfer may wait until Tuesday.
A house closing may shift by a day. If you had a deadline on Monday, the bank holiday may have pushed it.
The holiday also shows how fast habits have changed. In the past, a bank holiday meant no banking at all. Today, apps and ATMs fill the gap.
You can deposit a check with your phone. You can pay a bill online. You can send money to a friend in seconds.
Still, some tasks need a branch. You may need a cashier's check. You may need to sign papers in person.
You may need a notary. Those tasks had to wait until Tuesday. If you run a small business, that wait can hurt.
Our explainer on overdraft protection shows how a delayed deposit can turn into a costly fee.
What happens next
Today is Tuesday, October 13. Banks are open again. Mail is moving again.
The bond market is open again. If a payment was stuck on Monday, it should now go through.
If you are still waiting on a payment, check your bank app first. Look for pending transactions. A pending transaction is one that has started but has not finished yet.
If it is still pending, give it one more business day. Then call your bank if nothing changes.
The next bank holiday to plan for is Veterans Day. It falls on Wednesday, November 11, 2026. Banks will close again.
The stock market will stay open again. The same split will repeat.
For the rest of 2026, the stock market has only two closures left. Thanksgiving is November 26. Christmas is December 25.
Plan any big money moves around those dates.
The simplest lesson from Monday is this. Banks and markets do not always move together. When in doubt, check your bank's holiday calendar.
And keep a small cash buffer for days when branches close. A little planning beats a wasted trip to a locked branch.
If you want to understand your money better, start with the basics.
Our guide to reading your paycheck explains gross pay and net pay in plain words.
Our Social Security COLA explainer covers the 2027 cost-of-living change.
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