What is extended hours trading?
When logging on to your trading account in the morning to see how your positions are doing, you may notice something unusual. A stock you have been following is up 20% even though markets have just opened.
The reason for this sudden rise in price at the opening bell could be what is known as pre-market trading. Pre-market trading is the period of activity that takes place before the market formally opens, allowing early-bird traders to react to news and buy, sell, or trade as they would during regular market hours.
In addition to pre-market trading, there is the after-hours session, which allows traders to take part in markets after an exchange officially closes for the day.
- Pre-market and after-hours trading at Saxo
- How to enable extended hours trading
- How to place a trade during extended hours trading
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Risk warning
Pre-market and after-hours trading at Saxo
Saxo offers clients the opportunity to take part in pre-market and after-hours trading on US exchanges, providing the opportunity to participate in markets outside of their regular trading hours. This means you can place limit orders in the pre-market and after-hours sessions.
The benefits of these extended trading hours are that you can react to news that may affect markets even when they are closed or fit in some trading into a busy work schedule. Please do note that liquidity during these sessions is typically low and could mean that there is low availability for certain instruments.
Available exchanges: US exchanges
Pre-market trading hours: 07:00-09:30 am (Eastern Time)
After-hours trading hours: 4:00-5:00 pm (Eastern Time)
Available instruments: US stocks, ETFs, single stock CFDs
How to enable extended hours trading
Extended hours trading (including pre-market and after-hours) is a feature that you can enable on your account.
You will find the switch to enable extended hours trading by navigating to the main menu > Platform settings > Platform & Trading > Extended hours, where you will be able to toggle the extended hours trading feature on and off.
Please note that the default stock prices displayed on our platform are delayed by 15 minutes. To access real-time prices, you need to subscribe to the relevant exchange. We offer live prices for US stocks at no cost; simply subscribe to access this feature. How to subscribe to live prices
How to place a trade during extended hours trading
Once the feature is enabled, you will see the toggle to enable Extended hours when you open a trade ticket (do note the order type must be set to Limit). The toggle will be listed alongside the other trading parameters and all you need to do is to select On in the specified field.
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Order input You can submit an Extended hours order at any given time. Type: Choose Limit order Buy/Sell: Specify the direction of the trade Shares: Specify the amount/quantity Price: Specify the buy/sell price (Limit price) Duration: Specify how long the order should be valid for Extended hours: Switch to 'On' if you want the order to be active during pre-market and after hours Note that the input fields vary depending on the Instrument and Order type. |
Frequently Asked Questions
When can extended hours enabled orders be executed?
All limit orders placed with respect to eligible instruments which have the Extended hours option enabled on the respective trade tickets will be eligible for execution in all pre-market, regular hours, and after-hours sessions.
This means that any residual unfilled limit orders existing after each trading session (pre-market, regular hours, after-hours) will be rolled into the next trading session, provided such limit orders are not cancelled, expired, or as otherwise indicated by you.
Do all prices update using extended hours quotes during pre-market and after-hours?
All market prices, market open/close indicators, price changes, position current-prices, position P/Ls, position exposures, and position market values displayed will update with prices received during extended hours trading, provided the platform setting is enabled.
The only exception is:
- high/low
which will continue to update using regular hour prices only.
How to activate extended trading hours on Charts?
There are 2 ways to activate extended trading hours on Charts:
Method 1:
- Select a US instrument and go to the ‘Product overview’ page
- Under Overview check the ‘Extended hours’ box
Method 2:
- Select a US instrument and go to ‘Charts’
- Choose an intraday timeframe, and click on the
symbol at the top right corner of the chart
You can also customise the background colour by selecting the ‘Chart Configuration’ and go to "Lines and Colours'.
Are there extra costs for an Extended hours enabled order?
There are no additional costs when trading in Extended hours via this feature. The cost will be the same as a regular limit order.
How is my margin impacted?
All margin reservations and collateral deductions will be based on regular prices only. However:
- if the market moves in a direction unfavorable to you during a pre-market or after-hours session, you may see an additional Extended hours deduction in Not available as initial collateral.
- when trading CFDs during Extended trading hours, you may see a deduction in Not available as maintenance collateral.
Understand how your initial margin available is impacted in extended trading hours with the examples below:
How is my initial margin available impacted? - Example (stock)
For clients holding stocks only, IMA is not impacted by extended trading hours. |
How is my initial margin available impacted? - Example (CFD)
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Will stop orders and conditional orders be triggered during the extended hours sessions?
No, they will not. Stop orders and conditional orders will not be triggered by price updates received for instruments available for and during extended hours trading and will only be triggered by price updates for such instruments during regular hours trading.
Which account value can trigger the account value shield?
The account value shield is not triggered by the account value that includes extended-hours projections. Only the account value for regular market hours is used.
Can a stop-out procedure be triggered during the extended hours sessions?
Stop-out procedures cannot be triggered by price updates received for instruments available for and during extended hours of trading. However, your margin utilization may still change during extended hours trading due to trading activity during the session, including trading in other instruments or currency fluctuation. If your margin requirement is breached during extended hours trading, Saxo may not close all contracts and margin positions for such instruments until regular hours trading but may close any other instruments immediately that are in the regular session.
Are there any modules that do not support extended hours trading?
Currently, extended hours trading is supported in all modules (Product Overview, Screener, Watchlist, Positions, charts etc.), with some exceptions:
- Low/high data
- Extended hours trading prices do not trigger price alerts
- Extended hours trading prices are not reflected in the Time & Sales (Only SaxoTrader for desktop)