Premarket and After Hours - are not just something nice to have, they are MUST HAVE's to use for trading. I used to think they were nice, but not needed. Very much not true!
There are plenty of times that PR's are issued before the market opens or in after hours. Good PR's are no big deal, because typically, the price will rise from where it closed. So, you'll make $.
But if the PR is bad, the price may drop 5% in after hours, then 10%, then by the time the market opens the next day and info has been PR'd all over, your stock may be down 25% or more. You could have gotten out and sold for 5-10% loss if you sold PRE or AH.
The main account I'm trading from is a 401k. I was not able to do premarket or after hours trading until I filled out an application to do so, or until I called in and asked for it to be added. The rep then read the mumbo jumbo about greater risk, lower liquidity, the chance of only part of your order being filled, etc. I'm sure there's a site somewhere detailing the differences, among those being that there's less market makers and wider ranges in bid vs. asks.
I would very much suggest you practicing to get used to how the pre and post works for your trading platform and to make sure that you have it enabled. For my regular TD Ameritrade account, it was enabled for me already. You also need to find out the pre and AH trading times for your platform. Crazy, but I've found out that different companies actually offer different times, mostly the same but I've read where one or two trade an hour early then others.
I've also noticed that AH and Pre prices have for the most part, always been the highest on any of my sales after good news like trial data and PDUFA approvals. IMO, the only time that hasn't applied since I've started trading in Nov was the other day with APPY.
These thoughts are just mine, not right, not wrong, just thoughts. Invest in what you believe in, not what I believe in. Do your research, and invest in the facts.
