Risks of Extended Hours Trading

Extended Hours Trading Sessions may not be suitable for all investors since they pose certain risks including, but not limited to: lower liquidity, changing prices, news announcements, higher volatility, and wider spreads.

Extended Hours Trading Sessions do not take place on official Exchange holidays or when the Exchanges close early. Schwab reserves the right to change or modify the hours of operation at any time. A Schwab Extended Hours Trading Session, or any security traded therein, may be temporarily or permanently suspended without prior notice at any time at our discretion.

Standard Market Hours Extended Hours Trading at Schwab
  • Individual investor orders may be executed from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET.
  • Orders can be placed at any time.

Pre-Market Trading

  • Individual investor orders may be executed from 7:00 a.m. to 9:25 a.m. ET.
  • Orders can be placed as early as 8:05 p.m. the previous trading day, but order execution will not begin until 7:00 a.m.

After-Hours Trading

  • Orders can be placed as early as 4:05 p.m. ET.
  • Individual investor orders may be executed from 4:05 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET.
  • Orders cannot be placed after 8:00 p.m. ET.

Trading occurs on NASDAQ and the exchanges through a variety of market centers.

Your orders will be processed through UBS.

All orders types available via StreetSmart Central® are accepted by Schwab during this Trading Session, subject to account or security specific limitations.

Orders are subject to account or security specific limitations.

All order sizes are accepted (round, odd, and mixed lots).

While odd and mixed lot orders can be accepted, their use may significantly reduce your chance of finding a matching buy or sell. The maximum order size is 25,000 shares.

You can trade securities or options.

Currently, most NASDAQ and certain listed securities are available for trading during the Extended Hours Session at Schwab.

Unexecuted limit orders placed during the day session do not carry over to the Extended Hours Session.

Unexecuted extended hours orders are canceled at the end of the session, and do not carry over to the next standard market or Extended Hours Trading Sessions.

In general, higher trading activity means more liquidity and a greater likelihood of order execution.

Lower trading activity may result in lower likelihood of order execution, plus wider spreads and greater price fluctuation.

 

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 pre-market and post-market 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.