Trading the US market
Regular session
Definition
The regular session is the main trading day on the NYSE and Nasdaq: 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), Monday to Friday, outside market holidays. It has the most volume and the tightest spreads, which is why most day trading plans are built around it.
Example
Say a stock trades 3 million shares in a day: 2.7 million of them, or 90%, change hands between the 9:30 open and the 4:00 close with a 1-cent spread, while the other 300,000 trade before or after with spreads of 10 cents or more. A standard day order entered at 8:00 a.m. usually waits for the 9:30 open before it can fill.
Hypothetical numbers, for illustration only.
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