A market lunch break is a scheduled midday pause in trading observed by several Asian stock exchanges. The Tokyo Stock Exchange breaks from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM JST, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM HKT, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM CST. This tradition dates back to when trading was conducted by humans on physical trading floors who needed time to eat and process morning transactions. Despite the shift to electronic trading, these breaks persist for cultural and market structure reasons. During the break, no orders are matched and the order book is effectively frozen. The Korea Exchange eliminated its lunch break in 2000, and Singapore's SGX followed in 2011, reflecting a global trend toward continuous trading sessions. For international traders, lunch breaks create gaps in price data that must be accounted for in trading algorithms and hedging strategies.