Extended-Hours Trading at Merrill Edge
Want to trade before the stock market opens or after it closes? Believe it or not, you can, and this isn’t limited to professionals. With a Merrill Edge account, you can do it without paying any extra commission for extended-hours trading. Because Merrill Edge has a $0 commission schedule, this is about as low-cost as stock trading can get.
On the Merrill Edge website, the standard trade ticket can’t be used to place an extended-hours trade. This is the order form you get from the search bar at the top of the site. If you enter a ticker symbol there and select Trade from the drop-down window, you won’t be able to enter a pre-market or after-hours trade.
Instead, hover over the Trade tab in the top menu and choose Stocks & ETFs from the drop-down menu. On the ticket that appears, you need to click on the Extended Hours tab at the top of the ticket. Now you’re on the extended-hours ticket, and it can be used to submit an order before the regular session opens or after it closes.
The only order type available in this mode is a limit order. There is no duration choice, either, because the order is only good for one extended-hours session. If it doesn’t fill, it will be canceled automatically.
Pre-Market and After-Hours Trading at MarketPro
MarketPro is Merrill’s flagship trading platform. Not surprisingly, it also supports extended-hours trading. Somewhat surprisingly, however, it still lacks an advanced order ticket. The platform’s trade ticket offers the same order types as Merrill’s website. As with the website, only limit orders can be used for an extended-hours trade.
To place a pre-market or after-hours trade, be sure to click on the Extended Hours link at the top of the order ticket, just like on the website order form. The order ticket on MarketPro is located in the lower-left corner by default.
Pre-Market and After-Hours on Mobile App
Finally, Merrill Edge also supports extended-hours trading on its mobile app. As with the other two platforms, there is an extended-hours link at the top of the trade ticket that must be selected to enable pre-market or after-hours trading. Use a limit order and you’re ready to go.
Merrill’s pre-market trading period runs from 7:00 in the morning, Eastern Time, to market
open, which is at 9:30. The after-hours period starts one minute after the closing bell (4:01 pm) and
ends at 8:00 pm.
Extended-Hours Trading at moomoo
If you want more trading hours than Merrill Edge offers, you could open an account at rival firm moomoo.
moomoo’s pre-market session runs from 4:00 am, ET, until the opening bell. By contrast,
Merrill Edge’s early period starts 3 hours later.
And moomoo’s regular after-hours session runs from the closing bell until 8:00 pm.
moomoo also supports overnight trading in eligible U.S. stocks, so supported symbols can trade beyond Merrill Edge’s schedule.
Learn more...
Extended-hours orders at moomoo have no extra commission.
Open moomoo Account
Up to $1,000 in Nvidia stock + 8.1% APY at moomoo.
Open moomoo Account
Robinhood Overnight Trading
Unlike Merrill Edge, Robinhood offers cryptocurrency trading, and the crypto market is
open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The broker also offers 24-hour trading in many popular stocks and ETFs
5 days a week.
Open Robinhood Account
Free stock + 3% IRA match or 2% transfer match at Robinhood.
Open Robinhood Account
Benefits of Trading in Extended Hours
There are many advantages to trading during extended-hours sessions. Whether you are speculating on volatile stocks before the market opens, reacting to global events, taking defensive action during market selloffs, trading earnings moves, or doing anything in between, having access to the market before and after regular hours can be very useful. It is also helpful that you can get positioned before most traders even begin their day.
Considerations When Trading in Extended Hours
While extended-hours trading does offer a lot of benefits, there are also some important issues to think about. Trading volume is usually much lower during extended-hours sessions, and that can create additional risks, along with some opportunities.
For one thing, bid/ask spreads are often wider for securities trading outside regular hours. This can lead to prices that are less favorable than you might want.
Only limit orders are allowed during extended-hours trading. Using limit orders during periods of high volatility or low volume can result in orders not being filled. It is possible for the price to jump right past a limit order.
One-directional trading is also common in stocks getting a lot of attention during pre-market and post-market sessions. It is common for these stocks to get hit with a flood of either buy or sell orders from momentum traders. Getting stuck on the wrong side of a large move can be very costly.
Updated on 4/17/2026.
Continue Reading