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What is pre-market and after-hours trading and how do you trade it?
Pre-market and after-hours trading enables you to trade before the market opens and after it closes – giving you the flexibility to respond to price movements outside regular hours. Here’s how it works.
What is pre-market trading?
Pre-market trading enables you to trade a market before the main session opens. For example, most Hong Kong traders can only access US stock markets from 10.30pm to 5am (UTC +8). However, with our 24/5¹ offering on around 700 US shares, you can trade well before the opening bell.
This means you can react to overnight news, earnings reports or global events as they happen – not hours later when the market opens.
We offer exclusive extended and pre-market hours on All Sessions stocks, indices, forex pairs and options. We also provide weekend trading before the Monday open on selected global indices and the GBP/USD forex pair – available when you trade with us.
What is after hours (post-market) trading?
After-hours trading enables you to trade after the main session closes. For example, most Hong Kong traders can only access US stock markets from 10.30pm to 5am (UTC +8). However, with our 24/5¹ offering on around 700 key US shares, you can trade well after the closing bell.
This is particularly useful if a company reports earnings after hours, or if news breaks that could move the market overnight. You won’t have to wait until the next day to act.
Our exclusive extended hours on All Sessions stocks, indices, forex pairs and options enable you to trade after-hours.
You’ll also be able to access our weekend trading offering after the Saturday early morning close on selected global indices and the GBP/USD forex pair – available when you trade with us.
Learn what moves pre-market and after-hours prices
Pre-market and after-hours prices can move quickly based on earnings releases, economic data, central bank decisions or unexpected news.
For example, companies like Apple, Tesla, Netflix and Amazon often report results outside regular trading hours. If you're not set up to trade at these times, you could miss the initial price move – and by the time the market opens, the opportunity might be gone.
Keep in mind that prices can be more volatile outside standard hours, as there's typically less trading activity and liquidity.
Choose a pre-market or after-hours strategy
There are a few ways to approach pre-market and after-hours trading. Here are two common strategies:
Trading breakouts
Breakouts typically follow a period of consolidation – when an asset’s price is relatively static after a strong price move in either direction. Consolidation often precedes an announcement, as traders and investors are waiting to see how they should act.
Breakout traders will look for consolidation in the market, then open positions on the back of relevant news announcement. Their aim is to take full advantage of the resulting price move.
Technical indicators that can help you assess when breakouts could occur include Average True Range and Bollinger Bands.
Hedging gap risk
Gapping occurs when the price at the start of the main session is substantially higher or lower than the end of the previous day’s after-hours session.
You can minimise gap risk by hedging with our out-of-hours markets. For example, if you were concerned that a Tesla shareholding could fall in value before the main session opens, you could take a short position on Tesla during our after-hours session.
If the market falls as expected, the profit from your short position would help offset the loss to your shareholding. But, if it rises instead, the increase in the value of your shareholding would help offset the loss on your short position.
Remember, with us you can only trade derivatives via CFDs..
Login or create your CFD trading account
Login or create a trading account with us, and you’ll be able to trade pre-market and after-hours with CFDs. These are financial derivatives, which enable you to speculate on the price of a market rising by going long, or falling by going short.
We offer 24/51 trading on 700 key US shares.
CFD trading
You’ll make a prediction about the direction of a market’s price movements, with your profit or loss determined by the accuracy of your prediction and the size of the market movement. CFD trading enables you to offset profits against losses for tax purposes1 – making CFDs particularly useful for hedging risk.
Select a market
Toggle between the tabs below to see the range of markets available during each session.
Shares
We offer 700 key US shares 24/5¹ including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Tesla through CFDs
Indices
We offer over 35 more weekly trading hours than our nearest competitor on popular indices including the FTSE 100, Germany 40 and Wall Street3.These markets enable you to get exposure to a country’s most popular stocks from a single position.
Forex
We offer major, minor and exotic currency pairs from 5am Monday until 6am Saturday (UTC +8 time). We also offer GBP/USD, EUR/USD and USD/JPY at the weekend.
Bear in mind that the forex market’s opening hours will vary in March, April, October and November, as countries shift to and from daylight savings time. Illustration below in UK time:
Options
We offer options trading with extended hours on selected weekly and monthly indices options contracts. Our daily options do not have extended hours because we are the market maker – meaning our daily options don’t exist in the underlying market.
- Standard options hours
- Extended options hours
| Market | Daily (UTC +8) | Weekly (UTC +8) | Monthly (UTC +8) |
| FTSE 100 | 3.30pm – 12.30am* | 4.15pm – 12.30am | 4.15pm – 12.30am |
| Germany 40 | 3.30pm – 12.30am* | 4.15pm – 12.30am | 4.15pm – 12.30am |
| Wall Street | 3.30pm – 5am* | 10.30pm – 5.15am | 10.30pm – 5.15am |
| Gold | 3.30pm – 2.30am** | 6pm – 2.30am | 6pm – 2.30am |
| Silver | 3.30pm – 2.30am** | - | 6pm – 2.30am |
| Oil | 3.30pm – 3.30am** | 6pm – 3.30am | 6pm – 3.30am |
*Our daily options on the FTSE 100, Germany 40 and Wall Street usually open at 3.30pm on Monday (UTC+8), closing a few minutes before their various expiry times. FTSE 100 and Germany 40 daily options will reopen at 1.10am (next day), Wall Street will reopen at 5.40am (UTC +8), running to the following day’s close before closing for the weekend at the Saturday early morning expiry.
**Our daily options on gold, silver and oil usually open at 3.30pm on Monday (UTC +8), closing a few minutes before their various expiry times. They’ll reopen at 5am (UTC +8) the next day, and run until that day’s close before closing for the weekend at the Saturday early morning expiry
| Market | Daily (UTC +8) | Weekly (UTC +8) | Monthly (UTC +8) |
| FTSE 100 | 3.30pm – 12.30am* | 12.30am – 4pm | 12.30am – 4pm |
| Germany 40 | 3.30pm – 12.30am* | 12.30am – 4pm | 12.30am – 4pm |
| Wall Street | 3.30pm – 5am* | 5.15am – 10.30pm | 5.15am – 10.30pm |
| Gold | 3.30pm – 2.30am** | -[Only during standard hours] | -[Only during standard hours] |
| Silver | 3.30pm – 2.30am** | - | -[Only during standard hours] |
| Oil | 3.30pm – 3.30am** | -[Only during standard hours] | -[Only during standard hours] |
*Our daily options on the FTSE 100, Germany 40 and Wall Street usually open at 3.30pm on Monday (UTC +8), closing a few minutes before their various expiry times. FTSE 100 and Germany 40 options will reopen at 1.10am (next day), Wall Street will reopen at 5.40am (UTC +8), running to that day’s close before closing for the weekend at the Saturday early morning expiry.
**Our daily options on gold, silver and oil usually open at 3.30pm on Monday (UTC +8), closing a few minutes before their various expiry times. They’ll turn back on at 5am (UTC+8) the next day, and run until that day’s close before closing for the weekend at the Saturday early morning expiry.
Weekend trading opportunities
Our weekend indices and forex markets are completely separate to their weekday counterparts. This means that rather than trading our weekday ‘FTSE 100’ market on a Saturday, Sunday or early Monday morning, you’ll be trading the ‘Weekend UK 100’ market on our trading platform. Or, rather than trading ‘GBP/USD’, you’ll be trading ‘Weekend GBP/USD’.
Weekend market trading hours
| Market | Weekend trading times (UTC +8) |
| Weekend UK 100 | 4pm Saturday – 6.40am Monday |
| Weekend Germany 40 | 4pm Saturday – 6.40am Monday |
| Weekend Wall Street | 4pm Saturday – 6.40am Monday |
| Weekend HS50 | 4pm Saturday – 6.40am Monday |
| Weekend GBP/USD | 4pm Saturday – 4.40am Monday |
| Weekend EUR/USD | 4pm Saturday – 4.40am Monday |
| Weekend USD/JPY | 4pm Saturday – 4.40am Monday |
Understand the risks of pre-market, post-market and weekend trading
Trading outside regular hours comes with some additional risks to be aware of:
Lower liquidity than the main market session: many market participants prefer to trade during the main session – when prices are generally more stable – meaning there can be fewer active participants to fill the other side of trades out-of-hours
Higher volatility than the main market session: lower liquidity can result in more dramatic swings in prices, which can be good or bad – depending on your individual risk appetite
Wider spreads than the main market session: the spread is the difference between the buy and sell price on offer. Spreads can widen when volatility rises or liquidity falls – both of which occur more frequently out-of-hours
You can manage your risk using stops and limits, which automatically close your trade when the price hits a pre-determined level. Guaranteed stops are the best way to cap risk because these always close your trade at the exact level you specify – even if the market moves quickly or ‘gaps’. A small premium is payable if a guaranteed stop is triggered.
Place your trade
To place your first pre-market or after-hours trade, login or create an account and go to our web trading platform or mobile trading app. Once there, follow the steps below:
- Select your market
- Decide whether to sell or buy
- Choose your position size
- Set your stops and limits
- Place your deal
Alternatively, you can practise using our platform with a demo account. You’ll get $20,000 in virtual funds to build your confidence before trading the live pre-market and after-hours market sessions.
FAQs about pre-market and after-hours trading
What time can I trade US shares with IG?
You can trade around 700 US shares 24/51 – from Monday 8am to Saturday 5am (UTC +8). During daylight savings, hours shift to 6am Monday to 3am Saturday (UTC +8). This means you can access the market before it opens, throughout the main session and well after it closes.
What's the difference between pre-market, after-hours and 24/5 trading?
Pre-market trading is before the main session opens – typically when overnight news or earnings reports are released. After-hours (or post-market) trading is after the main session closes, which is useful if news breaks late in the day. Our 24/51 trading covers both pre-market and after-hours plus the main session – so you can trade nearly any time from Monday to Friday without being limited to standard market hours.
What are the risks of trading outside regular hours?
Trading pre-market and after-hours comes with some additional risks compared to the main session. Spreads are typically wider due to lower liquidity, which means it might cost more to enter and exit positions. Prices can also be more volatile, as there are fewer active traders and larger price swings can happen on smaller volumes. It's important to understand these risks and consider using stop-losses to manage your exposure before you trade.
1 Trading hours run from Monday 8am to Saturday 5am (UTC +8). During daylight savings, hours shift to 6am Monday to 3am Saturday (UTC +8).
2 Tax laws are subject to change and depend on individual circumstances. Tax law may differ in jurisdictions.
3 Based on analysis of the FTSE 100, Germany 40 and Wall Street offering from prominent UK competitor websites. Information correct to the best of our ability as of 30 March 2020
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