We are pleased to announce that effective February 24, Alpaca will be rolling out our full extended hours offering to users. With our full extended session support, you can trade commission-free* US exchange-listed securities from 4 am to 8 pm ET Monday to Friday. This gives you the opportunity to trade securities five and a half hours before the opening bell and four hours after the closing bell.
Full extended hours trading offers you the flexibility to react quickly to market-moving news and after-hours events, trade on your schedule, and allow your international end-users to buy or sell securities convenient to their local time zones at no additional cost.
What are Full Extended Hours?
Regular trading hours for US equity markets are between 9:30 am and 4 pm ET Monday to Friday. Extended hours trading is available before the market opens and after the market closes, allowing market participants to buy and sell securities outside of the core session. Trades in a full extended session are completed through electronic communication networks (ECNs) - computerized systems- that automatically match buy and sell securities in the market.
Trade when the news breaks, not just when the market is open
Commission-free extended hours trading
With full extended hours trading, you gain the flexibility and support to trade thousands of U.S. listed securities without commissions. Please note, to participate in a full extended hour session only limit orders are currently accepted on whole shares.
React quickly to breaking news
Instead of waiting for the next day's trading session, full extended hours enables investors and traders to make trades by quickly reacting to news and events such as acquisitions, mergers, or earnings reports that are not released during normal market hours.
Trade flexibly on your schedule
Full extended-hours trading allows you to make trades outside of the normal market hours from 9:30 am to 4 pm ET. This means you can trade when it’s more convenient for you.
alpaca_client.submit_order(symbol="SPY",
qty=15,
side="buy",
type="limit",
time_in_force='day'
extended_hours=True)Offer full extended hours to your international end-users
For developers with an international user base, you can test and embed our full extended hours integration into your fintech app. With this feature, you’re able to offer your end-users the additional flexibility to buy and sell whole shares in the US market during extended hours convenient to their local time zones.
For instance, traders in Asian, Oceanian, African, Middle Eastern, or European time zones will have the ability to trade immediately when the news breaks and not be confined by the schedule of a regular trading session.
Key product details
- Full extended hours session available from 4 am to 8 pm ET Monday to Friday
- During a half-day trading session, the extended session is from 4 am to 5 pm ET
- Commission-free trading for all US exchange-listed securities
- A quick, simple, and easy-to-use API integration
- No additional cost to users who have enabled Alpaca’s prior limited extended hours
- Supports “limit orders” for extended hour sessions
- Orders should be for an integer amount of shares i.e whole shares
Learn more
For more information on how you can enable full extended hours, please take a look at our documentation or check out How to Enable Stock Market Trading from 4am to 8pm ET to learn how to get started. To test or embed Full Extended Hours into your app, please reach out to [email protected]
George A J Sanders
Keep in mind
There are risks associated with extended hours trading, for more information please click here to be informed on those details before entering into a full extended session.
*Commission-Free trading means that there are no commission charges for Alpaca self-directed individual cash brokerage accounts that trade U.S. listed securities through an API. Relevant regulatory fees may apply.
Securities brokerage services are provided by Alpaca Securities LLC (“Alpaca”), member FINRA/SIPC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc. Technology and services are offered by AlpacaDB, Inc.
This is not an offer, solicitation of an offer, or advice to buy or sell securities, or open a brokerage account in any jurisdiction where Alpaca is not registered (Alpaca is registered only in the United States).
