Questrade brings pre-market equity options trading to Canadian investors
A gap that options traders have long felt
Until now, Canadians who wanted to respond to an after-hours earnings report or pre-dawn economic release had limited options including trading the underlying stock in the pre-market session – when fewer buyers and sellers can make it harder to get the price they want – or wait for the regular session open, when prices can already have moved sharply. Pre-market options give traders another way to respond, and clients who buy them can act on news with their risk defined up front.
“Markets don’t only react between business hours, and our clients shouldn’t have to either,” said Hwan Kim, Chief Product Officer at Questrade. “Investors are increasingly adopting options as a tool to execute on their investment goals, and pre-market options give them more flexibility to act on news on their own terms.”
However, the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) is urging investors across Canada to fully understand the risks of trading outside regular market hours before placing any orders during extended sessions.
What’s available and how it works
Equity options pre-market trading runs from 7:30 a.m. to 9:25 a.m. ET and post-market from 4:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. ET, covering 29 eligible underlyings at launch including SPY, QQQ, AAPL, NVDA, TSLA, and MSFT.
Index options are also now available during pre-market (7:30 a.m. to 9:25 a.m. ET) and post-market (4:15 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET) sessions, covering SPX, SPXW, RUT, RUTW, VIX, VIXW, and XSP. Also available are extended and overnight sessions for eligible U.S. stocks and ETFs, and a post-market session for TSX- and TSXV-listed securities.
