Hello, I see that some stocks sells or buys before the us market opens at 0930 and after closing. If i wanted to buy or sell my stocks during those pre and after market times, How would I.  thanks

not on zecco you would have to go to another site to do that and pay for the trades

tomcat, how the hell do you buy and sell stocks before the market opens and after it closes??

My understanding of it was the following: the market opens at 9:30 AM and closes at 4:00 PM, every Monday through Friday (NYSE). IF you place orders before/after the market opens/closes, the order will only be executed once the market opens.
I thought the charts that indicate a price change or volume pre/post-market only measure the orders that will be placed at the open. Nothing is being traded until the market opens, so when the market does open with a large volume then there is a gap in the price.

Someone please explain

From www.nasdaq.com - "Investors may trade in the Pre-Market (8:00-9:30 a.m. ET) and the After Hours Market (4:00-8:00 p.m. ET).
Participation from Market Makers and ECNs is strictly voluntary and as a result, these sessions may
offer less liquidity and inferior prices. Stock prices may also move more quickly in this environment.
Investors who anticipate trading during these times are strongly advised to use limit orders."

Several online brokerages allow you to place orders in the pre-market and after hours as ststed on NASDAQ's site (above). Ameritrade, for instance (www.ameritrade.com) allows you to select pre-market or after hours coverage when you place an order. If the price of the security you're interested in reaches your buy/sell point, it will do just that and not wait for market open. Some securities are not available for off-hours trades and the transaction on these will not occur at those times. Trades that DO occur change the actual opening stats, thus the deviations you observe from the prev close to open.

I have used off hours trades several times sucessfully. Unfortunately, you DO have to pay regular commissions, unlike the 10 freebies per month from Zecco. I'm new to Zecco, and as such I am not sure if they provide off hour trades, however in a previous post, a member tells us not, which is too bad for them. I still use AMTD for off hours trades but if Zecco ever catches up I'd more than happily use them.


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The buck is mightier than the pen as you can buy the pen with the buck, but can't buy the buck with the pen!

Otavio, a little more info for you if you're interested....I just checked my Scottrade account and they too allow trades in the off hours. The bonus here is the commissions are only $7 vs. AMTD's $9.99. But hey, if you want to sign up, let me know and I'll send you a link so we both can get 3 freebies from Scottrade.
michaelat56@yahoo.com

Some of you are looking at the after market hour chart and think that you can make easy money,  well it's not that easy!  I have been trading on the after hour market for many years and let me tell you...it's total madness.   Here is an example of what usually happen all the time:

1.  Let's say you are the first in queue with your limit order to sell 100 shares of XYZ at $10 a share (the current market price was at $9 a share). 

2.  You sit back, relax, and watch your level II quote or quote stream II.  Suddenly, you see someone just bought 10K shares of XYZ at $12 a share.  I know what you are thinking...you just sold your stocks for at least $10 a share, right?  Wrong!   Most of the time, your order would still be pending all night.  Please note that you are the first on queue, so how come someone manage to buy and sell at $12 while you are asking for only $10?   Why are they willing to pay a lot more than your asking price and not buying it from you?  See if you can figure out the answer to my question.   Like I said, it's total madness!

Interesting! A couple of questions.... How do you know you're 1st in queue? (and) Who's your broker?

In theory the chances are, your 1st place status is with the brokerage, not the market. If your broker is slacking you won't see the trade because she/he/it didn't place it for you. I too, have been doing off hour trades for quite some time but have never experienced this problem.You ARE absolutely correct about the foam at the mouth madness, but that sometimes is great excitment and entertainment!

MichaelAT:

Interesting! A couple of questions.... How do you know you're 1st in queue? (and) Who's your broker?

I knew I was first in queue because my order was on queue for at least 5 hours during the market hour.  My broker was (and still is) TDAmeritrade.  Also, I usually trade  INTC (which has very high volume) during the after hour.  Once in a while I do end up with a very good deal, but usually my order won't get filled.   Btw, who is your broker?  

Other than Zecco (which I'm new to) I use AMTD for my largest holdings, Scottrade holds a near 2nd, I just closed an E*Trade acct because of value (the cost to service value I found poor or just barely par).

I also tried Tradeking but they are the worst service I ever experienced because what they claim (One price) I found to be an outright lie, the 5 day hold also is a lie as it turned out to be 10 days. Don't even try tradeking, it may be the biggest headache you will ever experience, (SOLID advice!) Not only do they charge you their "one" price, they'll smack you upside the head with an aditional .01 per share if you trade below $2 ps. A 2000 share buy/sell of a security trading at 2 or less will destroy you with a $24.95 commission instead of the $4.95 they claim. (Very BAD business model.)

The best in my experience so far is AMTD but Scottrade has come a long way and I can easily move between the two. I'm excited about Zeco and so far I have no complaints, I think Zecco could measure up nicely, especially as I see their services rapidly coming into line with the other good ones. I really like the pricing and that alone will put Zecco head & shoulders above more expensive brokerages.

I do my off hours on AMTD because (get this) they seem to be able to get the order to market very quickly. I am concerned with your experience and am going to try and replicate it,  Gotta learn what's up, ya know?

I have been with AMTD for almost 3 years now; they are the best!   I like Zecco for its community sharing  oriented.   I wish that Zecco is as fast as AMTD and I wish that AMTD is community oriented like Zecco. 

I agree, AMTD seems to be a very good brokerage. I first started trading with them in 2000 and have really never had a bad experience. I DO like testing the waters though, always looking for a bargin that will boost my investable (I wonder if that's a word??) cash and low prices warrant a good look, and free...? Well, that deserves several looks :-)

This community thing I'm finding quite entertaining, for a quiet guy it's quite a feat to get me on my keybord to expose myself to the world! I usually like watching from the shadows. Zecco is cool, they even called me today for a chat, that was a first for me from ANY brokerage. Pretty cool!