Regular session
Definition · Level 0 · Market basics
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The main US trading hours, 9:30 to 16:00 Eastern Time (ET), with an opening auction at the start and a closing auction at the end.
Example
Most of a day’s volume trades in these 6.5 hours, and the official open and close prices come from them.
Rules and market figures change: check the current ones before relying on this.
Where Tradecraft teaches it
Level 0 · Market basics, in the lesson “The trading day”: When US stocks trade, and why prices outside the regular session are shaky.
Related terms
- After-hoursThe US extended session after the 16:00 ET close, typically until 20:00 ET, where many earnings reports first trade: thin liquidity, wide spreads…
- Pre-marketThe US extended session before the 9:30 Eastern Time (ET) open, from as early as 4:00 ET depending on venue and broker: thin volume, wide spreads…
- 52-week high / all-time highThe highest price over the past year of trading / the highest price ever recorded (split-adjusted).
- Account equityWhat you would keep after selling everything in the account and repaying the loan: market value minus what you owe.
- ADVAverage daily volume: the typical number of shares traded per day over a lookback window (often 20 or 30 days), the yardstick for how big an order…
- AONAll-or-none: the whole quantity or nothing, but unlike fill-or-kill the order may keep working until a complete fill is available.