Premarket, Extended Hours & 24 Hour Trading

What Is Premarket Trading?

Premarket trading is the session before the regular stock market opens where eligible securities can be bought and sold. It gives traders a way to react to overnight news, economic data, or earnings reports before the opening bell. 

Premarket stock trading typically has lower volume than the regular session, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads and less predictable pricing. 

When Does Premarket Trading Start? 

Premarket trading hours at tastytrade currently open at 6:00 AM CT and run until 8:30 AM CT, ahead of the regular market open. 

What Is Extended Hours Trading?

Extended hours trading refers to the premarket and post-market sessions that surround the regular trading day. It's what allows trading to extend beyond standard US market hours (8:30 AM to 3:00 PM CT). 

At tastytrade, the post-market session runs from 3:00 PM CT to 7:00 PM CT, immediately following the close of the regular session. 

What Are Extended Hours Trading Rules? 

During extended trading hours, order types are more limited than during the regular session. Only limit orders are accepted. Market orders and stop orders can’t be entered, and stop orders do not carry over into extended hours. Traders can select Extended Hours (also called “EXT limit”) as their time-in-force to trade during premarket and post-market sessions. 

Single-stock options are not open for trading outside the regular daytime session. Some ETF options continue trading until 3:15 PM CT, 15 minutes after the regular session closes.

US Market Hours vs. Premarket vs. Extended Hours vs. Global Trading Hours

Beyond premarket and post-market windows, tastytrade offers 24-hour stock trading for a defined group of equities. Any stock in the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100, and a selection of ETFs can be traded continuously from Sunday at 7:00 PM CT to Friday at 7:00 PM CT. 

This is one of the ways tastytrade functions as a 24 hour trading platform. It's not trading every stock around the clock. It's near round-the-clock access to a specific, defined list of large-cap names and ETFs, five days a week. 

Learn more about 24/5 trading. 

Nearly 24 Hour Options Trading: Global Trading Hours for SPX, XSP, VIX & RUT

For index options specifically, tastytrade offers Global Trading Hours (GTH), an extended hour trading session for a defined set of Cboe-listed index options. GTH lets eligible accounts place limit orders on these products before the market open, through the Curb session, and overnight. 

GTH is separate from the equity extended hours sessions described above. It applies only to a fixed set of index options and does not extend to single-stock options or ETF options. 

Eligible Products 

How Orders Work During Global Trading Hours 

During Global Trading Hours, single-leg options, options spreads, and other multi-leg options strategies are supported. As with equity extended hours, only limit orders are accepted during GTH. Market, stop, and stop-limit orders are rejected at entry. 

Two time-in-force options apply specifically to GTH: 

Global Hours — active for the current extended session only; expires at its close. 

GTC Global Hours — stays working across both the regular and extended sessions until it fills or is canceled. 

What & When Can You Trade Outside Regular Hours

With tastytrade, traders can access premarket, post-market, 24 hour stock and ETF trading, and Global Trading Hours for eligible index options, depending on the product: 

• Stocks & ETFs: Premarket (6:00 AM–8:30 AM CT), post-market (3:00 PM–7:00 PM CT), and continuous 24 hour trading Sunday 7:00 PM to Friday 7:00 PM CT for S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and select ETFs 
• ETF Options: Trade until 3:15 PM CT, 15 minutes after the regular close 
• Index Options (SPX, XSP, VIX, RUT): Global Trading Hours, before the open, through the Curb, and overnight 

Learn more about placing orders after hours. 

Risks of Trading Outside Regular Hours

Premarket, post-market, and GTH sessions all share a key difference from the regular daytime session: liquidity. Liquidity is the ability to convert an asset into cash without significantly affecting its market price, and extended and overnight sessions frequently offer less of it than the regular session. 

Lower liquidity means executing a trade can move the price more than it would during regular hours, which can result in less favorable pricing. This is sometimes called slippage when a trader faces difficulty getting a fair price due to a lack of liquidity. 

Extended and overnight sessions can also involve: 

• Larger, unexplained gap moves 
• Elevated volatility 
• Wider bid-ask spreads 

A limit order guarantees the price entered or better if it fills. It never guarantees that a fill will happen. 

How Do I Start Trading Extended Hours?

1. Learn about extended hours trading and Global Trading Hours 
2. Create an account or log in 
3. Decide which market, product, and session fits your strategy 
4. Open, monitor, and close your position, reviewing commissions & fees on the order ticket before submitting