Extended-Hours Trading Explained

If you work during the week and can’t participate in the regular stock market session, no worries. You can still trade eligible securities outside the regular session, which lasts from 9:30 am ET until 4:00 pm ET. You just need to find a broker that offers pre-market and after-hours trading and know how to place the trades.

Extended-Hours Trading Varies from Broker to Broker

Some brokerage firms don’t offer any extended-hours trading. Among those that do, the hours can vary quite a bit. For example, Vanguard doesn’t offer trading before the opening bell; although it does have a post-market session, which ends at 6:30 pm ET.

Charles Schwab offers both an early session and a late-night session. On thinkorswim, Schwab also offers 24-hour trading in eligible securities. This is one of the longest extended-hours periods available for stock and ETF trading at a major U.S. brokerage.

Placing an Extended-Hours Trade

To submit an order before the market opens or after it closes, you typically must do something different, such as enroll for extended-hours trading or check a box on the regular trade ticket. This latter option is the standard protocol at Charles Schwab.

Charles Schwab's thinkorswim platform order ticket has a drop-down for trading hours. If you want your order to be available for execution during these times, select EXT or GTC EXT for extended hours, and EXTO or EXTO GTC for overnight trading (GTC means "good till canceled").





Some brokerage firms have somewhat different software. For example, Firstrade’s order ticket has choices for after-hours only, pre-market only, or both sessions plus the day session.

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Why Would You Want to Trade During Extended Hours?

Traders want to submit orders outside of regular market hours for all sorts of reasons. In the United States, many public companies release earnings numbers before the market opens or after it closes. If you are only able to trade during regular market hours, you could miss a trading opportunity if there is a surprise announcement. By the time you get in, it may be too late.

Another reason traders want access to pre-market and after-hours trading is to lock in profits when news stories break or when a government releases economic data. For example, if a war breaks out overnight in the Middle East, the stock prices of many companies will be affected before the opening bell.

Overnight Trading

Several brokerage firms in the United States now offer overnight stock and ETF trading in eligible securities. Instead of closing shop at 8:00 pm, these platforms extend trading into the overnight period, generally on a 24/5 schedule. Trading halts before the weekend and resumes Sunday evening.

At Robinhood, we found 1,134 stocks and ETFs available for overnight trading. Some of these are well-known funds, like SPY and GLD. To find the complete list on the website, go to the main page, which can be reached by clicking on the Robinhood logo in the upper-left corner of the site. On the homepage, go down until you see the lists section of the page. Here, there are groups of assets, like Daily Movers and Technology. One of the lists will be the 24 Hour Market.





To place a trade using the broker’s software, you’ll need to select the 24 Hour Market on the trade ticket. Robinhood’s overnight stock and ETF trades must be whole-share limit orders, and only securities on the 24 Hour Market list are eligible.