TD Ameritrade will now offer the ability to trade 24 hours a day, five days a week. The New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and others are open from 9:30am to 4pm Eastern with premarket hours from 4-9:30am and extended hours from 4-8pm.
According to TD Ameritrade, it wants to close the gap between regular hours and extended hours for qualified investors, starting from 8 p.m. Eastern on Sunday to 8 p.m. Friday. The move also is an attempt to grow its business in Asia.
Due to the lack of liquidity and sharp price swings sometimes affiliated with after hours trading, TD Ameritrade will limit TD Ameritrade has said it would start out allowing off-hour trade in 12 widely held U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds using limit orders to protect against potential losses.
While the company plans to expand the list of ETFs available for trading after hours, the currently available funds are:
DIA - SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust
EEM - iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF
FXI = iShares China Large-Cap ETF
GLD - SPDR Gold Trust
IWM - iShares Russell 2000 ETF
QQQ - PowerShares QQQ Trust
SH = ProShares Short S&P500
SLV - iShares Silver Trust
SPY - SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
TLT - iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF
UNG - United States Natural Gas Fund LP
USO - United States Oil Fund LP