Investing Basics: A Guide to After Hours Trading

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What is After Hours Trading?

Since 1985, the regular stock market trading hours have been from 9:30am to 4:00pm. For quite some time, institutional investors and those with high trading volumes have been able to participate in after hours trading, or late trading. With the advent of Electronic Communications Networks (ECNs) came the opportunity to participate in after hours trading on a much wider scale.

Here are the rules:

Investors can trade in the Pre-Market from 8:00am to 9:30am, Eastern Time, and in the After Hours Market from 4:00pm and 6:30pm Eastern Time. Participation from Market Makers and ECNs is voluntary and as a result, these sessions may offer less liquidity than the normal market and often inferior stock prices. Stock prices can also move more quickly in this environment. Investors who participate in after hours trading should consider using limit orders.

What's so special about After Hours Trading?

Many investors have determined that a leading indicator for anticipated activity in regular trading hours is after-hours trading activity. After hours and pre-market trading may also provide insight into Global Markets trading activity as those markets start up within hours of the close of the after-hours market in the U.S. After hours trading data on NASDAQ.com is delayed 15 minutes.

After Hours Definitions:

After-Market Time - the time of the after-market trade, Eastern Time.
After-Market Price - the trade price of the after-market trade.
After-Market Share Volume - the number of shares traded in each recorded after-market trade.

Pre-Market and After Hours Trading News:

Briefing.com After Hours Report

MarketWatch After Hours Trading

Trading Halts from NASDAQ Trader

Additional After Hours Trading Resources:

After Hours Trading - from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
After-Hours Trading: Understanding the Risks - from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
After Hours Market Data - from The NASDAQ Stock Market
Invest FAQ: Trading After Hours - excellent article on after hours trading by John Schott, Chris Lott, P. Healy, & James Owens