When Does the Stock Market Open?

U.S. stock market exchanges—notably the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq—typically open at 9:30 a.m. and close at 4 p.m. Eastern time (ET) on U.S. weekdays. In addition, the growth of electronic trading networks has fundamentally changed how and when people can access markets, with extended hours available start🦋ing at 4 a.m. and going until 8 p.m.

♛ More recently, some brokers have also begun offering overnight trading, making it possible to buy and sell stocks anytime. Read on to learn more.

What Is Pre-Market and After-Hours Trading?

Pre-market trading generally happens from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET, though it can start as early as 4 a.m. After-hours trading starts at 4 p.m. and can run as late as 8 p.m. ET. You can see the hours available for certain popular brokers below:

How Pre-Market and After-Hours Trading Works

Because an exchange doesn't handle pre-market and after-hours trading, electronic communication networks handle the trades digitally. Somℱe of the most important market moves can occur outside the NYSE and Nasdaq’s regular trading sessions.

Pre-Market

Before the market opens, traders can log into their brokerage accounts and look for prospects to get ahead of the market, especially if reports are released during the trading day. Traders can then place orders through their brokers. Generally, these orders can only be limit orders, whe🐽re traders place an order to buy or sell a specific quantity of an equity at a certain price.

Brokers may also have specific off-hours trading criteria—for example, Schwab lets you place limit orders from 8:05 p.m. ET (previous trading day) to 9:25 a.m. ET for execution from 7 a.m. to 9:25 a.m. ET.

After-Hours

After-hours trading works like pre-market trading; a trader can log into their brokerage account and place limit orders for their brokers to execute. For instance, Schwab’s after-hours trading lets you place orders from 4:05 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET and executes the orders through the electronic market.

Overnight Trading

There has been a growing demand to extend trading hours in recent years. The popularity of the U.S. stock market worldwide in places with vastly different time zones to east North America is partly responsible for driving this, and brokers, armed with the technology to cate🔜r to this demand, are responding. 

Investors have a few choices if they want to trade stocks overnight and beyond the pre-market and after-hour time slots, meaning from 8 p.m. ET to 4 a.m. ET. Brokers that offer this option include Interactive Brokers and Robin Hood, which both launched overnight trading facilities in 2023 and Charles Schwab, which in October 2024 unveiled plans to allow clients to trade all S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 stocks as well as hundreds of exchange-traded funds (ETF) at any time Monday through Friday.

The overnight session fills the gap between pre-market and after-market hours, allowing investors to trade on qualifying exchanges whenever they want during weekdays. Demand for this option has so far been strong.

As overnight trading becomes more widely available and mainstream, it's likely that anything beyond regular market hours will just be labeled overnight trading.

How Extended Hours Trading Affects Stock Prices

One issue that arises when trading pre-market or after-hours is that there is not as much liquidity or trade volume because of the lower amount of traders. However, stock prices tend to a🌱ct the sa𓂃me as they do during the trading day.

In addition, stock prices can change from closing price because after-hours and pre-market traders may have access to information that regular-hour traders did not. Prices can rise or fall based on extended-hours trading and carry forward to the next regular trading session.

Where To Find Pre-𒁏Market and After-Hours Market Data

The first place investors sh🦄ould look to find information about pre-market and after-hours activity is their brokerage account’s data service, if they have one. Brokerage information services often provide the most detailed off-hours market trading data and usually come free with a brokerage account. Traders can often see the current bid and ask prices for specific securities and the change in prices compared with a previous period’s close.

If you don’t have a brokerage account or your broker doꦑesn’t provide this service, several free sites give you access ꧑to pre-market and after-hours data.

For example, the Nasdaq website offers comprehensive quotes on shares listed on the Nasdaq, showing every trade—including the price, time, and size of trades made in off-hours trading. For pre-market trading꧋ information, use the ; for after-hours details, use the .

Although the NYSE’s website doesn't offer such a detailed service in terms of depth, the quoting service on its site shows you the last movements of the stocks during the off-hours market.

Other platforms, such as Yahoo Finance, will s൲how the last trade made in the pre-market and after-hours markets. These services will usually cover all stocks, whether they trade on the N𒉰YSE, Nasdaq, or another exchange.

Pre-Market Hours

The pre-market is a period of trading activity that occurs before the stock market opens. Though its trading session typically occurs from 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET each trading day, several direct-access brokers allow 🦩access to pre-market trading to begin as early as 4 a.m.

However, very little activity occurs for most stocks early in the morning unless there is news. The liquidity is also extremely thin, with most stocks only showing 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:stub quotes. Although pre-market trading gives you an early jump to react to news—especially events in Europe or the United Kingdom—the limited volume can be deceptive about a stock’s strength or weakness. Trading during these hours can be risky because of the possible slippage from wide bid-ask spreads.

Most early birds wait to begin pre-market access at 8 a.m. Pre-market trading can only be executed with limit orders through electronic communication networks, such as NYSE Arca, Instinet, and Bloomberg Tradebook.

After-Market Hours

The NYSE introduced after-market trading in June 1991 by extending trading hours by an hour. The move responded to increased competition from international exchanges in London and Tokyo as well as priꦍvate exchanges, which offered more trading hours.

Today, after-hours trading starts at 4 p.m. ET and can run as late as 8 p.m., although volume typically thins out much earlier in the session; the majority is done by 6:30 p.m. As in the pre-market hours, trading in the after-hours is conducted through electronic communication networks.

After-hours trading is something traders or investors can do if news breaks after clo🎉sing. The changes in share prices during the after-hours are a valuable barometer of the market reaction to the new information releas꧒ed.

However, after-hours price changes are more volatile than regular-hours prices. As with the pre-market, illiquidity and lack of volume can pose a problem. Institutional or major investors may choose not to participate in after-hours trading, regardless of the news or the event. As a result, a stock can fall suddenly after hours, only to rise when the regular trading session resumes the next day.

Advantages and Disadvan🐬tages of Pre-Market and After-Hours Trading

Pros of Pre-Market and After-Hours Trading

• Convenient for retail investors: Pre-market and after-hours trading is convenient for working professionals or others busy during regular trading hours because it allows them to trade before and after hours.
• Can trade the news and releases: It enables traders to trade based on news items, such as earnings reports published after regular trading hours.
• Trades before other traders: Pre-market and after-hours trading enables traders to move ahead of others by placing orders ahead of the next day’s schedule.

Cons of Pre-Market and After-Hours Trading

• Low liquidity: Pre-market and after-hours trading is characterized by illiquidity or deficient levels of liquidity, meaning there is no guarantee that a particular trade will be executed.
• Volatility: Pre-market and after-hours trading has low volume, which can result in volatility and price swings because there are few participants.
• Limited quotes: You can only trade on the quotes that your broker provides you.
• Limit orders only: Only limit order types are available during pre-market and after-hours trading.

The Bottom Line

Pre-market, after-hours, and overnight trading are conducted outside regular trading hours through electronic networks that match buyers with sellers. Though they let traders react to news items outside regular trading hours, pre-market and after-hours trading carries several risks, such as illiquidity and price volatility. This trading also enables investors to react to news and company events, such as earnings, outside regular trading hours.