Say when US markets open and close in Singapore time, and explain why the first and last minutes of the session trade differently.
The US regular session runs from 9.30pm to 4am Singapore time for roughly March to November, and from 10.30pm to 5am for the rest of the year. A long-term investor can send an order in the evening and let it fill overnight. To do that safely, use a limit order and find out how your broker handles orders sent before the market opens.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq run on New York time, so their working day falls during Singapore's night. On each trading day they hold a regular session from 9.30am to 4pm New York time, and both exchanges list these hours on their own websites. Most prices, charts and fund valuations you look at reflect trading in the regular session.
Singapore's clocks stay the same all year. New York's clocks change, so the session shifts against Singapore time. During US daylight saving time, roughly March to November, New York is 12 hours behind Singapore. For the rest of the year the gap is 13 hours.
Converting the session takes three steps. Begin with 9.30am to 4pm New York time. Check whether US daylight saving time is in effect. If it is, add 12 hours: 9.30am plus 12 hours is 9.30pm and 4pm plus 12 hours is 4am, so the session runs 9.30pm to 4am Singapore time. If it isn't, add 13 hours: 9.30am plus 13 hours is 10.30pm and 4pm plus 13 hours is 5am, so the session runs 10.30pm to 5am Singapore time.
US law fixes the dates when the US clocks change. These dates differ from the UK's, so look up both each year. US exchanges also close for some public holidays that Singapore doesn't observe, and some US trading days end early. Each exchange publishes a holiday calendar. You can copy the year's closures into your own calendar once and refer to that.
Hakim invests from Singapore (an invented example). He sent his first US order at 8pm on a Tuesday, straight after dinner. His app accepted it and then nothing happened. At 10pm the order still showed as pending, so he went to bed. When he woke at 6am it had filled, at a price well above the one his screen had shown when he placed it.
No one had told him that the US market was closed at 8pm. In either daylight saving period the open comes later, at 9.30pm or 10.30pm Singapore time. An order sent before the open is either held until the open or routed into an early session. Which one happens depends on the order type and the broker's settings. Hakim's order may have gone into an early session he didn't know existed. In both cases, the price he saw at 8pm was different from the price on offer once trading started.
Brokers treat this setting in different ways. Some route orders into extended hours only if you tick a box. Others have it switched on by default. The setting decides whether an order you send in the evening can fill before the regular open, so check which one applies to your account.
Many brokers let you trade before the regular open (pre-market trading) and after the close (after-hours trading). Together these two windows are called extended hours. The exact times depend on the broker and the venues it uses, and its help pages list them.
Extended-hours markets are thin. Fewer people are trading and each side of the market holds fewer orders. A thin market usually has wider bid-ask spreads. Prices can jump on a small order, or on news released while the main session is closed, such as company results. A pre-market price you see at 7pm Singapore time (an illustrative time) may be a long way from where the stock opens hours later.
The regular session has two busy stretches. At the open, the overnight news, company results and all the orders placed while the market was closed arrive together. Prices can swing sharply in the first few minutes, and spreads often stay wider until trading settles. Near the close, volume rises because many funds and large investors trade to match the closing price. If you're a regular investor buying a broad fund, the middle of the session usually gives the steadiest prices and the tightest spreads.
In Singapore the middle of the session falls in the early hours of the morning, and staying awake for it has its own risk. If you're trading tired at 3am, you're more likely to chase a price move, misread a number or type an extra zero.
Most long-term investors have no reason to be awake while the session runs. A monthly purchase of a broad fund never needs a decision in the early hours. You can choose your price in the evening and leave the order in place overnight.
To do this, you use a limit order. It sets the worst price you're willing to accept. If the market reaches that price during the session, the order fills. If the market never reaches it, the order doesn't fill. Lesson 6.2 shows how to set one.
Hakim now trades this way. He knows the regular session in Singapore time for the current daylight saving period. At around nine in the evening he checks the previous close, then places a limit order at the worst price he's prepared to accept. He goes to sleep, and the order fills during the session if the market meets his price. He checks the result over breakfast.
The routine depends on a few checks that you do once a year, or once for each account:
Look up the US and UK clock-change dates for the year. Put the year's US exchange holidays and early closes into your calendar. Read your broker's help pages for its extended-hours windows. Find out whether your account sends orders into extended hours by default or only after you tick a box.
For the activity, write down the Singapore-time open and close of the US regular session in both daylight saving periods. Then set your broker app to show those hours, or add a world clock with New York time, so you can see at a glance whether the market is open.
Write down the Singapore-time opening and closing hours for US regular trading, both during and outside daylight saving. Then set your broker app to show them.
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