In reply to the Doc’s latest regarding Pre and P
Post# of 85503
Novice stock traders know the stock market has regular trading hours. Unless it's a holiday, the market is open for business between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday to Friday. Billions of shares of stock are traded in the American markets alone, making them very liquid and efficient.
What new traders may not know is the stock market is also open for business before and after regular trading hours. Pre- and post-market trading sessions allow investors to trade stocks between the hours of 4 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. during pre-market trading, and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. for the post-market session.
Compared to the billions of shares traded during the day, after-hours sessions trade only a small fraction of that volume, which invites other problems traders have to consider before trading outside of the normal day. Can you make money trading before or after the bell? It's possible, but first, you have to do your research.
Companies are strategic about how they announce important information like earnings reports. They don't like to make announcements during regular trading sessions because it could cause a large knee-jerk reaction that misrepresents the true value of their stock. If a company announced its last-quarter earnings and they were worse than expected, a large-scale move out of the stock could result in unwarranted big losses.
But the value of the stock can still move even when the market isn't open. Investors will want access when that value changes, which is why after-hours sessions are so important. So if you trade when these announcements are made, that means you're better able to react to the news. Once the market opens, share prices will have already changed, causing the stock price to better reflect fair value. And if you've already hit that point, it may have become too late to make a trade.
Read between the lines and letters my friends and future millionaires. $UNVC BOOK IT!