Extended Hours Trading refers to Pre-Market Trading session and After Hours Trading sessions that occur outside the standard trading session — 9:30 a.m. ET to 4:00 p.m. ET.
In accordance with FINRA and NASDAQ Rules, JonesTrading is required to disclose the common risks associated with trading in extended sessions that you should be aware of:
- Risk of Lower Liquidity. Liquidity refers to the ability of market participants to buy and sell securities. Generally, the more orders that are available in a market, the greater the liquidity. Liquidity is important because with greater liquidity it is easier for investors to buy or sell securities, and as a result, investors are more likely to pay or receive a competitive price for securities purchased or sold. There may be lower liquidity in extended hours trading as compared to regular market hours. As a result, your order may only be partially executed, or not at all.
- Risk of Higher Volatility. Volatility refers to the changes in price that securities undergo when trading. Generally, the higher the volatility of a security, the greater its price swings. There may be greater volatility in extended hours trading than in regular market hours. As a result, your order may only be partially executed, or not at all, or you may receive an inferior price in extended hours trading than you would during regular market hours.
- Risk of Changing Prices. The prices of securities traded in extended hours trading may not reflect the prices either at the end of regular market hours, or upon the opening the next morning. As a result, you may receive an inferior price in extended hours trading than you would during regular market hours.
- Risk of Unlinked Markets. Depending on the extended hours trading system or the time of day, the prices displayed on a particular extended hours trading system may not reflect the prices in other concurrently operating extended hours trading systems dealing in the same securities. Accordingly, you may receive an inferior price in one extended hours trading system than you would in another extended hours trading system.
- Risk of News Announcements. Normally, issuers make news announcements that may affect the price of their securities after regular market hours. Similarly, important financial information is frequently announced outside of regular market hours. In extended hours trading, these announcements may occur during trading, and if combined with lower liquidity and higher volatility, may cause an exaggerated and unsustainable effect on the price of a security.
- Risk of Wider Spreads. The spread refers to the difference in price between what you can buy a security for and what you can sell it for. Lower liquidity and higher volatility in extended hours trading may result in wider than normal spreads for a particular security.
- Risk of Partial Executions. Orders placed during extended trading hours may be entered through a participating ECN or exchange, which may be linked to other ECNs or exchanges. Because you cannot add qualifiers to an order, such as AON or FOK, a round lot order may be filled in part by an odd lot or mixed lot order, leaving stock left over to buy or to sell. There is a risk that the remaining order may not be filled during the extended-hours session. An odd lot may not be represented in the displayed quote. This would occur in instances in which an order has an execution leaving an odd lot. There are no execution guaranties for an odd lot or the odd lot portion of a mixed lot portion of an order.
- Risk of Lack of Calculation or Dissemination of Underlying Index Value or Intraday Indicative Value (“IIV”). For certain Derivative Securities Products, an updated underlying index value or IIV may not be calculated or publicly disseminated in extended trading hours. Since the underlying index value and IIV are not calculated or widely disseminated during the Opening and Late Trading Sessions, an investor who is unable to calculate implied values for certain Derivative Securities Products in those sessions may be at a disadvantage to market professionals.
Version 2009-01