Extended Trading Explained: Strategies & Opportunities

Extended trading is a practice that many traders regularly engage in. Here are the basics of extended trading and how it works.

Extended Trading

When trading stocks, the stock market is only open for a specific period of time everyday. This is when the vast majority of stock trading takes place. However, there is also a time before the market open and after the markets close that stock trading still takes place. The trading of these stocks is not actually taking place on the floor of the stock exchange. It is taking place through electronic stock trading networks.

Increase

Extended trading was previously only available for large institutional investors. With advancements in technology, this is no longer the case. Anyone that has access to a computer and an online stockbroker can get involved in extended trading. Since the majority of stock trading takes place electronically, this can still be accomplished whenever the market is closed.

Benefits

This type of trading can be very beneficial to certain stock traders. If you do not have access to trading the market during the day, you can still get involved with trading stocks after hours. This provides more opportunities for people to trade and to profit from the market.