What are the after-hours trading hours?

The exchanges’ late sessions run from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET on electronic venues such as Nasdaq and NYSE Arca. Your broker decides how much of that you can use: many offer the full four hours, some less, and the order types allowed differ from the regular session. In Riyadh, after-hours runs from 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. until November 1, 2026, and from midnight to 4:00 a.m. after US clocks fall back. The pre-market session on the other side of the night opens at 4:00 a.m. ET.

  • Regular session: 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, ending with the closing auction.
  • After-hours: 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET at most; check your broker’s window.
  • Overnight, where a broker offers it: roughly 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. ET, in selected stocks and ETFs.
  • Early-close days: after-hours ends at 5:00 p.m. ET, as on November 27 and December 24, 2026.

Why is after-hours trading risky? Thin liquidity and wide spreads

After the close, far fewer market makers and traders keep quoting, so the order book thins out. Fewer shares sit at each price, the bid-ask spread widens, and one order can move the price. Prices on different venues can also differ at the same moment, because after-hours markets are less linked than the regular session.

Hypothetical, as in the drawing: at 2:00 p.m. ET a stock is quoted $50.00 bid and $50.01 ask, with thousands of shares on each side. At 6:30 p.m. the same stock might show $49.70 bid and $50.10 ask, with 200 shares on each. Buy 300 shares at market there and you pay $50.10 for 200 and more for the rest; sell straight back at the bid and you lose more than 40 cents a share before the price has moved at all.

Turn your phone sideways to read the drawing. Tap to close.

Two hand-drawn bar charts at four times, 14:00, 16:30, 18:30 and 19:45 ET, with a dashed line at the close. Left, the bid–ask spread: $0.01 in the regular session (green), then $0.15, $0.40 and $0.60 after hours (orange). Right, the shares at the best bid: 5000, then 800, 200 and 100. The 18:30 values, $0.40 and 200, are highlighted. A note reads illustrative: after the close the spread widens and fewer shares sit at each price.

How to place an after-hours order: limit orders

Many brokers accept only limit orders outside regular hours, and you usually have to mark the order as eligible for extended hours, in its time-in-force or session setting. A limit order fills only at your price or better, so it protects you from a thin book, but it may fill only partly, or not at all.

Two details catch beginners. A regular day order, and at many brokers a stop order, does nothing after 4:00 p.m.: it waits for the next open. And an extended-hours order left unfilled may be canceled at the end of the session or carried forward, depending on the broker, so ask, and cancel what you no longer want. The order types guide covers limit, stop and market orders.

Earnings after the close and the next-day gap

Many companies release quarterly results shortly after the 4:00 p.m. close and then hold a call with analysts. The first reaction happens after hours on thin volume, and it can swing sharply as the numbers, the guidance and the call are digested. The guide on how to read earnings reports shows what traders look for.

Hypothetical, in the drawing: a stock closes at $50.00 and reports at 4:05 p.m. ET, then trades between $45.00 and $47.50 after hours. A holder with a $47.00 stop for the regular session is not filled overnight: the stop waits, triggers at the 9:30 a.m. open at $45.50 and becomes a market order there. The move from $50.00 to $45.50 is the overnight gap; whether it keeps going or fills is the subject of the gap trading strategy.

Turn your phone sideways to read the drawing. Tap to close.

A hand-drawn timeline from 16:00 ET to after the next 09:30 open: after-hours from 16:00 to 20:00 (orange), overnight from 20:00 to 04:00 (grey and dashed, some brokers), pre-market from 04:00 to 09:30 (blue) and the open (green). Four cards above point to their moments: regular close $50.00, earnings report 16:05, after-hours trades $45.00–47.50, and next open: the gap, $45.50 (red). Below, a red stop card at 47.00 is followed by a grey dashed line noted regular-session stop: not active, waits for the open, ending in a red X at 09:30 noted triggers at the open, fills near 45.50.

Do after-hours prices count? The official close

No. The official closing price comes from the closing auction on the stock’s listing exchange at 4:00 p.m. ET, and that is the close on the daily candle in most charts. A stock that closes at $50.00 and trades at $46.00 at 6:00 p.m. still shows a $50.00 close; the after-hours move appears as a gap at the next open.

Brokers differ in what they display: some show the after-hours quote and its change since the close, others value positions at the regular close. On TradingView, after-hours bars appear on intraday charts only when extended hours are switched on, and indicators such as VWAP change when those thin bars are included, so chart the session you trade. The pre-market guide shows the setting.

Overnight trading: can you trade US stocks 24 hours a day?

Partly. Some brokers already offer an overnight session, roughly 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. ET on weeknights, in selected stocks and ETFs through alternative trading venues, and exchanges have announced plans for overnight sessions of their own, subject to regulatory approval. Which stocks, which order types and which hours depend on your broker, so check before you rely on it. In Riyadh, that session falls from 3:00 to 11:00 a.m. until November 1, 2026; the US stock market hours page tracks the latest schedule.

Overnight trading carries the same risks as after-hours, usually more: very thin volume, wide spreads and prices that may not hold at the open. Many traders use it, if at all, to adjust a position after major news, with small limit orders, not as a second regular session.