Equity Trading Venues

Following are the Venues available in the Trade tool and Symbol Hub when placing an order in StreetSmart Edge®. No single order routing venue is best in all situations, so it is important that you familiarize yourself with the routes available and determine which best fits the market conditions.

Routing Venues
SmartEx	All StreetSmart Edge® users have access to SmartEx order routing, which is designed to seek the best trade execution for your order in the timeliest manner possible, unless otherwise specified. To read more about SmartEx order routing, see How SmartEx Orders Route. To learn about the choices you have when setting up a SmartEx order, see Placing Equity Trades. Trading is available during standard market hours, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET.
Direct Access	Users who want more control over the routing of their orders may wish to enable Direct Access trading for their accounts. Direct Access allows you to place trades via ARCA and NSDQ. See the Direct Access Route Comparison to see how the two venues differ. Trading is available from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET and does not have separate sessions for pre- or post-market trading. Direct Access trading entails certain risks and responsibilities. As a result, we have established special eligibility requirements for Direct Access trading.
Pre Market	Orders can be entered from 8:05 p.m. on the previous trading day to 9:25 a.m. ET, but trades are not eligible for execution until the session officially opens for trading at 8:00 a.m. ET. For much more on pre-market trading, see Extended Hours Trading.
After Hours	Orders can be entered from 4:05 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET, but trades are not eligible for execution until the session officially opens for trading at 4:15 p.m. ET. For much more on after-hours trading, see Extended Hours Trading.