What are extended hours?
Extended hours refers to the sessions before and after regular US market hours when buying and selling of investments happens:
the pre-market session is 4–9:30 AM Eastern Time (ET) / 8 PM to 1:30 AM New Zealand Standard Time (NZST)
the post-market session is 4–8 PM (ET) / 8 AM to 12 PM (NZST).
Regular US market hours are from 9:30 AM (ET) to 4 PM (ET) on US weekdays (excluding exchange holidays).
Keep in mind that the time difference will shift during daylight savings in either time zone.
People might take part in extended hours to:
act on the latest info outside of regular market hours
buy or sell shares earlier or later in the day
take advantage of larger price movements.
Opt in to extended hours
You can opt in to extended hours by going to your investment portfolio, then select Manage > Extended US hours.
Your Sharesies account will need to have access to US shares before you can opt in.
Live prices for US investments are available during extended hours. The live pricing feature is available if you’ve opted-in to the $15 pricing plan.
How extended-hours orders work
Extended-hours orders can be placed as market orders or limit orders.
A stop loss order or a trigger buy order will not be triggered during extended-hours trading.
When you place an extended-hours order:
it’ll stay on the market until the end of the post-market session (unless it fills)
any part of the order that hasn't filled by the end of the post-market session will be cancelled.
That means if you place an extended-hours order during extended hours, regular US market hours, or while the market is closed, and it hasn’t filled by the end of the post-market session, it’ll be cancelled.
If your order (or part of it) is cancelled, the money for it will be returned to your Wallet (or the shares returned to your Portfolio).
Available investments
For now, you’ll only be able to place extended-hours orders for a select number of US investments—we’ll be adding more over time.
You can also check which US investments you can place an extended-hours order for in the Sharesies app by:
Opting in to extended hours.
Searching for the investment during extended hours.
Looking for the extended hours status in the top-right corner.
Prices shown during extended hours are delayed by at least 20 minutes, or by five seconds if you’ve opted-in to the $15 pricing plan, which includes US live pricing, and potentially longer due to the lower liquidity in the markets.
Risks of extended-hours trading
Lower liquidity
Some investments might have lower trading volumes during extended hours, which means that:
it could take longer for your order to fill
your order might only partially fill
your order won’t fill at all.
Higher price volatility
Some investments might experience greater ups and downs in price during extended hours compared to regular US market hours.
Price changes
The prices of investments during extended hours might not reflect the prices either at the start (or end) of regular US market hours, or when the market opens the next trading day. This means you might get a different price for an order that fills during extended hours compared to regular US market hours.
Announcements and financial info releases
Announcements (or a release of financial info) that might affect an investment’s price are often made outside of regular US trading hours, or during extended hours. When combined with lower liquidity and higher volatility, this might cause extreme, potentially rapid movements in the price of an investment.
You can learn more about extended-hours trading on the DriveWealth website.