Recently, we put together a stock market tutorial that answered some of the most basic questions about the stock market. We learned that the stock market is actually a big supermarket where all publically traded companies come together to offer their stock to investors around the world.

One thing we didn’t discuss was the idea that, just like in the real world, there is more than one supermarket. Each supermarket, or exchange as they are called have different hours and slightly different rules but lets take a look at the stock market hours of each.

The exchange that we know the best is the New York Stock Exchange. This is what we know as Wall Street. Regular stock trading at the NYSE takes place Monday through Friday from 9:30AM to 4:00PM. As a stock trader, you will have the memorized during the first week that you start trading because you’ll notice something that is important to your strategy. The market is very volatile right at the open and leading to the close. The NASDAQ, the exchange that deals with a lot of technology stocks, is open the same hours at the NYSE.

9:30AM to 10:00 and 3:30 to 4:00 are often the highest volume times of the day. My personal rule is to avoid doing anything during the first half hour of trading. I tend to wait until the end of the day.

Our stock market tutorial continues with looking at premarket trading. This takes place from 8:00AM to 9:30AM. Most part time traders do not take part in trading stock because of the low volume and higher volatility. My personal opinion is that the regular stock market is open enough hours in the day that after hours trading isn’t necessary for me.

Just as there are premarket hours, the next stock market hours that we will look at are the after hours trading times. This is very similar to premarket but the hours are 4:00PM to 6:30PM. Again, I suggest not trading during this time unless you have a specific reason.

Finally, keep in mind that no matter what time it is, there is always a stock market exchange open somewhere in the world. In fact, foreign currency markets trade 24 hours a day from Sunday afternoon to Friday evening. Most part time investors will not trade on foreign markets.

Our stock market tutorial doesn’t end here. In coming articles, we will explore other questions that seem too easy to ask. Now, you know the stock market hours.