Do stocks usually go down on Friday?

This article answers: do stocks usually go down on friday — a concise review of the weekend/Friday effect, major studies, proposed causes, applicability to crypto, methodological caveats, trading i...

2026-01-18 11:13:00

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Do stocks usually go down on Friday?

Many investors ask: do stocks usually go down on friday? This guide examines the historical evidence, academic findings, trading-practice observations, and practical implications so you can decide whether weekday patterns matter for your approach. Within the first 100 words you get a clear answer: the so-called "Friday effect" or broader "weekend effect" has been observed at times, but it is inconsistent, time-varying, and often too small or fragile to trade reliably after costs. Below we summarize definitions, landmark studies, empirical patterns, explanations, differences for 24/7 crypto markets, methodological caveats, trading implications, and further reading — with dated references to reporting where available.

As of January 15, 2025, per Investopedia reporting and later industry notes, calendar-day anomalies remain debated and episodic.

Definition and terminology

Friday effect: A label used to describe any systematic tendency for stock returns on Fridays to differ from other weekdays. The phrase can mean stronger returns on Fridays in some samples or weaker returns in others.
Weekend effect: A broader term that typically refers to the combination of weekend-related return patterns, most famously the historical tendency for Mondays to show weaker returns than other days (the "Monday effect"). Researchers often treat the weekend effect as a Monday/Friday pair: poor Monday returns combined with stronger returns on the preceding Friday can create a weekend-related distortion.
Monday effect: Historically, many studies reported lower average returns on Mondays versus other days. That pattern is closely tied to the weekend effect literature and is often analyzed together with Friday behavior.

How researchers detect these patterns

Pairing Friday close with the following Monday open/close: Studies commonly compare returns on individual weekdays and examine multi-day returns that straddle weekends (Friday close to Monday open/close) to test whether information accumulation or trading breaks around weekends affects prices.
Cross-sectional and time-series tests: Academics use both pooled cross-sectional tests (many stocks) and aggregate market indices, controlling for risk factors, to identify day-of-week anomalies.

(Sources informing definitions include widely-cited finance literature and investor-education outlets.)

Historical background and key studies

The study of weekday effects goes back decades. A few landmark points:

Frank Cross (1973): Early academic work documented significant variation in returns by weekday, highlighting patterns like weak Mondays.
1970s–1990s research: Numerous studies across countries found day-of-week anomalies in equities, often pointing to weaker Monday returns and occasional Friday strength.
Later meta-analyses and replication work: Over time, researchers have shown that these anomalies are not universal and can diminish or reverse depending on sample period, market, and evolving market microstructure (electronic trading, ETFs, algorithmic strategies).
More recent research: Studies have emphasized heterogeneity — day-of-week patterns can be stronger for small-cap stocks, less pronounced in highly liquid markets, and sensitive to structural changes such as decimalization, extended trading hours, and rapid information flow.

As a summary observation: the historical literature established that weekday anomalies have existed, but also that they can be transient and context-dependent. Academic surveys and Cambridge-published articles document both early findings and later qualifications.

Empirical evidence

Long-term cross-sectional findings

Across long historical samples, researchers frequently observed:

Monday underperformance: Many early studies found that average returns on Mondays were lower than other weekdays.
Friday patterns vary: In some long-term samples, Fridays were relatively strong, reflecting a recovery after weaker Mondays; in other samples they were neutral or even weak. Aggregate indices and cross-sectional averages can tell different stories depending on period selection.
Size and liquidity effects: The day-of-week anomalies were often more pronounced for smaller, less liquid stocks, and diminished for large-cap, highly traded securities.

These long-term cross-sectional findings helped establish the weekend effect as a legitimate subject for study, while also showing that the effect is not uniform across all equities or time frames.

Recent and episodic findings

Day-of-week patterns change over time. For example:

Episodic Friday weakness: There have been periods where Fridays underperformed. As of January 15, 2025, industry reporting noted episodes in which Fridays showed weaker returns in certain years, underlining the time-varying nature of the effect.

As of January 15, 2025, per Investopedia reporting, calendar-year snapshots sometimes show Fridays as weaker relative to other weekdays.
Shifts after structural changes: The growth of high-frequency trading, 24/7 news distribution, and the proliferation of ETFs and index funds have altered intraday flow and reduced some calendar anomalies in major markets.
Short-lived reversals: At times, a previously observed advantage (e.g., stronger Fridays) has reversed after firms and traders adjusted behavior.

These recent and episodic findings indicate that any pattern — including whether "do stocks usually go down on friday" — depends strongly on chosen subperiods and market conditions.

Market- and firm-level heterogeneity

Day-of-week effects are not homogeneous:

By market: U.S. markets often show different patterns than emerging markets. Some international markets historically exhibited more pronounced weekday anomalies.
By firm size: Small- and mid-cap stocks have displayed stronger day-of-week effects than large caps, likely due to lower liquidity and greater sensitivity to idiosyncratic order flow.
By liquidity and volatility: Less liquid securities can experience larger price moves when weekend-related order flow concentrates, amplifying any weekday bias.

A robust finding is that aggregate market indices can mask large cross-sectional differences — some stocks or sectors may drive observed weekday averages.

Proposed explanations

Researchers and practitioners have proposed multiple, non-exclusive mechanisms that could generate Friday or weekend effects.

News timing and information release

Corporate news and regulatory releases may be scheduled around Friday closes or before weekends. When companies or governments prefer to release sensitive information before a break, prices can react in compressed windows, affecting Friday and subsequent Monday returns.
Researchers test whether clustering of earnings, guidance, or macro announcements around Fridays explains part of the observed pattern.

Risk-off behavior ahead of the weekend

Institutional and retail traders sometimes reduce exposure heading into weekends to avoid headline risk when markets are closed. This reduction in long exposures can push prices down on Fridays in some episodes.
The desire to avoid holding positions through unhedged macro events can create directional pressure into close.

Liquidity and end-of-week order flow

Liquidity often thins on Friday afternoons relative to midweek sessions. Thinner liquidity means the same order size can move prices more, increasing volatility and directional bias.
Traders who need to rebalance or square positions for reporting reasons can create concentrated sell or buy flows on Fridays.
Trading-practice writeups and heatmaps of order flow often show heightened localized impacts near weekly closes.

Options expirations and technical/settlement effects

Monthly, quarterly, and triple-witching expirations frequently occur on Fridays. These scheduled events can increase volume and volatility, especially in the final hours, introducing non-fundamental price pressure.
Settlement mechanics and index rebalancing dates can also cluster around end-of-week schedules.

Investor composition and behavioral causes

Individual investor trading patterns — for example, profit-taking before weekends — can produce short-term biases.
Behavioral drivers such as loss aversion, overreaction to recent news, or disposition effects may amplify weekday flows.

In short, Friday/weekend anomalies likely arise from a mix of news timing, liquidity dynamics, options/settlement events, and behavioral patterns rather than a single universal cause.

Applicability to cryptocurrencies and 24/7 markets

Crypto markets operate 24/7, so there is no formal weekend market close analogous to equity exchanges. That changes the mechanics behind any Friday- or weekend-related pattern.

No formal weekend close: Because crypto trading never halts, the classical "Friday close to Monday open" information gap is absent. This reduces one structural source of a weekend effect.
Alternative drivers: If patterns similar to equity weekend effects are observed in crypto, they are more likely driven by global retail activity cycles, timezone effects, or concentrated news/social media events rather than exchange closures.
Social-media and timezone cycles: Concentrated discussion on social platforms over a regional daytime or evening can produce identifiable intraday/weekday patterns in crypto volumes and returns.
Liquidity differences still matter: While exchanges operate continuously, liquidity can vary by clock-time (e.g., lower trading depths during regional off-hours), which can create intraday biases similar to those that operate for equities.

If you are comparing equities and crypto, remember: the structural closure that underpins many equity weekend analyses does not exist for most crypto, so equivalent patterns — if present — have different explanations and may be less stable.

When thinking about the question do stocks usually go down on friday, bear in mind the mechanics that differ between 24/7 and 5-day markets.

We recommend using Bitget Wallet for custody and Bitget exchange features to manage risk in crypto markets where continuous trading creates different patterns from equities.

Methodological issues and caveats

Researchers and practitioners emphasize many methodological pitfalls that can produce misleading conclusions about weekday effects.

Sample selection, time period and survivorship bias

Different start and end dates yield different average effects. A pattern visible in one decade may vanish in the next.
Survivorship bias — excluding delisted or failed firms — can skew estimates. Proper studies include delisted firms to avoid upward bias in returns.

Transaction costs and statistical significance

Even when average weekday differences are statistically significant, they are often small in magnitude. Transaction costs, slippage, and market impact can erase potential trading profits.
Tests must account for realistic execution costs; an observed average edge of a few basis points per day may not survive trading friction.

Data snooping and changing market microstructure

Repeated testing over many strategies raises the risk of data mining — finding patterns that are spurious.
Market microstructure evolves: decimalization, widened participation of algorithmic traders, and ETFs have changed intraday liquidity and may weaken historical anomalies.

These methodological points help explain why findings about do stocks usually go down on friday are mixed and often non-robust out of sample.

Trading implications and practical advice

Why relying solely on weekday patterns is risky

The effect is inconsistent: calendar anomalies are often too small, time-varying, and sensitive to sample choice to form a standalone, reliable trading rule.
Costs matter: the real-world profitability of exploiting small average weekday biases is questionable once commissions, bid-ask spread, and market impact are considered.
Risk of regime change: patterns that emerged in past market structures may disappear when participants adjust strategies.

(Sources including practitioner overviews and investor-education articles warn against overreliance on simple calendar rules.)

Ways traders and investors manage weekend risk

If you are concerned about weekend or Friday risk, common practical steps include:

Position sizing: reduce exposure ahead of weekends if you want to limit potential overnight or weekend headlines.
Hedging: use derivatives to hedge downside risk into the weekend, but be mindful of hedge costs and liquidity.
Partial exits: scale down positions rather than fully exit to manage risk while staying invested.
Stop-loss discipline and limit orders: set execution parameters that reflect your tolerance for price jumps.
Use exchange features: choose platforms (such as Bitget for crypto) that provide flexible margin and options tools for risk management.

All of these are risk-management approaches rather than predictions that "do stocks usually go down on friday." They help you manage exposure irrespective of any calendar effect.

Longer-term investor perspective

For buy-and-hold investors, small weekday patterns are generally immaterial to long-term wealth accumulation. Long-term returns are driven by fundamentals, compounding, and costs rather than isolated weekday effects.
Rebalancing and disciplined investing typically outperform attempts to time markets around weekdays.

Recent observations and notable episodes

Episode examples: There have been years where Fridays underperformed notably and other years where they outperformed. As of January 15, 2025, Investopedia and industry summaries noted that calendar-year snapshots sometimes show Fridays as relatively weak, though the pattern changes year-to-year.

As of January 15, 2025, per Investopedia reporting, some recent years had Friday underperformance in aggregate U.S. equities.
Bank and broker reports: Occasional research notes by banks and brokerages have highlighted short periods of Friday weakness around specific macro risks or when option expirations clustered.
Academic follow-ups: Cambridge Core and other journals continue to document that anomalies appear, disappear, and reappear, reinforcing the idea that no single calendar rule is stable indefinitely.

These notable episodes illustrate why the short answer to do stocks usually go down on friday must be: sometimes, in certain periods and markets — but not reliably.

Further research and reading

If you want to explore authoritative sources and deepen your understanding, consider reading:

Investopedia overview of the weekend effect and weekday anomalies (investor-focused primer).
Cambridge Core studies and journal articles on individual investor behavior and weekend effects (academic reviews and replication studies).
Practitioner writeups on Friday afternoon liquidity and order flow dynamics (trading-practice platforms and market-microstructure summaries).
Bookmap and trading-practice articles that describe intraday liquidity dynamics and the concentration of order flow near weekly closes.

As of June 2024, Cambridge Core published several articles reviewing investor behavior and calendar anomalies in equity markets.

Practical takeaway and next steps

To repeat the practical bottom line: do stocks usually go down on friday? No universal rule exists — the effect has appeared at times but is inconsistent and often too small to exploit reliably after trading costs. If you are concerned about weekend risk, use risk-management tools (position sizing, hedging, partial exits) and focus on robust portfolio construction.

If you trade crypto or want continuous-market tools, consider Bitget Wallet for custody and Bitget exchange features for hedging and execution. Explore platform risk-management options and educational resources to adapt strategies to your time horizon and cost constraints.

Further exploration: review the academic literature, practitioner coverage, and exchange notices for scheduled expiries that could affect intraday flow. Monitor liquidity conditions rather than relying on calendar rules alone.

Note on dated reporting: As of January 15, 2025, per Investopedia reporting, the weekend and Friday effects continue to be an active subject of debate with episodic observations of Friday weakness in some calendar snapshots.

This article is informational and not investment advice. It synthesizes academic and practitioner findings about calendar-day patterns. For trading or custody needs, Bitget provides platform services including custody and wallet options; evaluate features and fees carefully.

The content above has been sourced from the internet and generated using AI. For high-quality content, please visit Bitget Academy.