In this article:
Overview
Wealthsimple offers 24-hour trading for U.S.-listed stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
24-hour trading refers to the buying and selling of securities during and outside regular market trading hours (9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, or ET). You can buy and sell U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, from Sunday at 8:00 p.m. ET to Friday at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Extended-hours trading allows investors to buy and sell U.S. securities outside the standard trading hours of major exchanges. Extended-hours trading at Wealthsimple includes three trading sessions:
- Pre-market hours (4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET)
- Post-market hours (4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET)
- Overnight hours (8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. ET)
Extended-hours trading offers the following benefits:
- Adapt to your schedule: Extended-hours offer flexibility to trade at convenient times based on your schedule.
- React to market news: Extended-hours trading allows you to make decisions and respond to company news outside of regular trading hours.
- Global market influence: Events in foreign markets can impact U.S. stocks. Trade in response to global market activities.
How to place a 24-hour or extended-hours trading order
To trade during extended-hours, you'll need to place an extended-hours limit order on an eligible security during outside market hours.
Follow these steps to place a 24-hour or extended-hours order:
- Open the Wealthsimple app on your mobile device
- Tap the Discover (search) tab at the bottom of the screen
- Enter the name or symbol of a security in the search bar
- Select the security
- Tap Buy
- Enter the number of shares to buy
- Select the account to purchase the shares in
- Tap Next
- If eligible, you'll see the option to choose a Trading session
- Follow the prompts to place your 24-hour or extended-hours order
- Log in to your Wealthsimple profile
- Locate the search bar in the top-right corner, labelled Search name or symbol
- Enter the name or symbol of a security in the search bar
- Select the security
- Enter the number of shares to buy
- Select the account to purchase the shares in
- Select Next
- If eligible, the 24-hour or extended-hours trading session will populate in the order summary
- Follow the prompts to place your 24-hour or extended-hours order
Restrictions and considerations
You should be aware of the following restrictions and considerations when submitting orders to trade in the extended-hours sessions through Wealthsimple:
- Order type: All extended-hours orders are submitted as limit orders. These orders may participate in opening and closing auctions or crossing sessions.
- Ineligible trades: Extended-hours trading isn't available for Canadian-listed stocks or ETFs, U.S.-listed options, or over-the-counter (OTC) stocks.
- Fractional shares: Fractional shares aren't supported for extended-hours trading.
- Portfolio holdings: Your portfolio holdings and account values fluctuate throughout extended trading hours. This is due to real-time security price updates, reflecting market activity outside standard market hours.
- Settlement: Orders placed after 8:00 pm are treated as trades made on the next business day. This means your trade won't settle on the day immediately following your request. For example, if you place an overnight trade on December 10, it's processed as a December 11 trade and will settle on December 12.
- Quotes: We provide real-time bid/ask prices as well as the last traded price, which reflects trades placed during extended-hours sessions.
For more information, please refer to the 24 Hour Trading Disclosure and the Best Execution and Order Handling Disclosure.
Trading sessions schedule
There are four trading sessions:
| Trading session | Days of operation | Hours of operation |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-market | Monday to Friday | 4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET |
| Market | Monday to Friday | 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET |
| Post-market | Monday to Friday | 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET |
| Overnight | Sunday to Friday | 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. ET Note: Trading ends Friday at 4:00 a.m. ET. |
Order duration
The duration your order remains active for depends on which trading session you placed your order in:
Regular market hours orders
- Orders placed during regular market hours remain active until 4:00 p.m. ET.
- Regular market hours orders placed outside of market hours will be queued for the next day’s market session.
Extended-hours orders
- Orders placed before or during pre-market stay active during pre-market, regular hours, and post-market until filled or cancelled.
- Unfilled orders automatically expire at 8:00 p.m. ET.
- Pre-market and post-market orders placed after 8:00 p.m. ET wait until the next day's pre-market session begins.
24-hour orders
- Orders remain active throughout all trading sessions (4:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. ET) and won’t carry over to the next trading session.
- Unfilled 24-hour trade orders will be cancelled at the close of the overnight trading session (4:00 a.m. ET).
Frequently asked questions
Learn more about extended-hours trading through Wealthsimple below. For more details, please see our 24 Hour Trading Disclosure and Best Execution and Order Handling Disclosure.
Are there additional fees for extended-hours?
There are no additional fees for extended-hours trading. Learn more about the Wealthsimple fee schedule.
What securities are available for extended-hours trading?
Follow these steps to browse eligible securities:
- Open the Wealthsimple app on your mobile device
- Tap the search icon (Discover tab)
-
Tap the search bar, then tap All categories
Tip: You can also type "Extended hours trading" into the search bar, then tap the category. - Scroll down and select Extended hours trading
- Browse stocks available for extended hours trading
- Log in to your Wealthsimple profile
- Locate the search bar in the top-right corner, labelled Search name or symbol
- Enter the name or symbol of a security in the search bar
Why is my account value fluctuating during extended-hours?
Your portfolio holdings and account values fluctuate throughout extended-hours trading. This is due to real-time security price updates, reflecting market activity outside standard market hours.
Can I modify a pending order during extended-hours?
Yes, you can modify pending limit orders during and outside of extended-hours trading sessions.
What happens if I submit a market order by accident?
Market orders entered during extended-hours will be queued for the next regular market session.
How do corporate actions affect extended-hours trading?
Corporate actions like stock splits, dividends, mergers, acquisitions, and spin-offs can impact your trades if they occur around the same time you place an extended-hours order.
When these corporate actions happen, they create two different environments for trading:
- Pre-corporate action: This is the period before the corporate action takes effect.
- Post-corporate action: This is the period after the corporate action takes effect.
Trades placed during pre-market hours will be processed in the post-corporate action environment.
- Example: If you own ABC stock valued at $50 per share, and a 2:1 stock split occurs, trades placed in pre-market will be executed at $25 per share.
Trades placed in post-market hours before the corporate action date are processed in the pre-corporate action environment.
- Example: If you buy 100 shares of ABC stock at $50 per share in post-market, and a 2:1 stock split occurs the next trading day, you will end up with 200 shares, each valued at $25.
How does overnight trading work at Wealthsimple?
Wealthsimple executes overnight trades through Blue Ocean Alternative Trading System (BOATS). To protect investors, BOATS uses a system that limits how much a stock's price can change during the overnight session. Specifically, BOATS has a 20% price band. This means that if you place an order and the price you set is more than 20% away from the stock's reference price, BOATS will reject your order.
The reference price is the stock's last sale price on a main exchange as of 7:30 p.m. ET. This price is used as a benchmark to determine if an overnight order falls within the 20% band. In addition to this, Wealthsimple and any brokers we use may employ a more conservative price band to limit order rejections for overnight orders submitted before 7:30 p.m. ET when the overnight session opens.
In addition to this price band, BOATS also has rules about the size and value of orders.
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