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Glossary entry

Pre-Market Trading

Also known as: premarket · pre-market session

The pre-market session is the window before the 9:30am ET regular open when US-listed stocks can trade on lit exchange order books — typically 4:00am-9:30am at retail brokers.

Pre-market is one half of extended-hours trading (the other being after-hours). Sessions begin as early as 4:00am ET at brokers like Webull, Moomoo and Robinhood; Fidelity and Charles Schwab open pre-market at 7:00am for most accounts. Volume builds approaching the 9:30am open, particularly on names with overnight news.

Liquidity is concentrated in large-cap and earnings-related tickers. Smaller names may have no quotes at all until the regular session begins. Quote feeds in pre-market reflect only the venues a broker connects to — a stock can show a $50 bid at one broker and a $51 ask at another while neither has a fill, because there is no consolidated tape in the same form as the regular session.

Short-selling is more restricted in pre-market. SEC Rule 201 (the alternative uptick rule) can be triggered overnight and remain in force through the next session if a stock dropped more than 10%. Some brokers disable shorting entirely in pre-market regardless.

Brokers most relevant to this concept

See also

  • Extended-Hours Trading — Extended-hours trading refers to the pre-market (4:00am-9:30am ET) and after-hours (4:00pm-8:00pm ET) sessions surrounding the regular US equity trading day.
  • After-Hours Trading — The after-hours session is the window after the 4:00pm ET regular close when US stocks can still trade on lit exchanges — generally 4:00pm-8:00pm at retail brokers.
  • 24-Hour Trading — 24-hour trading lets retail investors place orders on US equities outside the standard 9:30am-4:00pm ET session, typically Sunday evening through Friday evening.