After Hours Trader

Then the Internet and new trading laws changed Wall Street forever, ushering in a new investing paradigm and the advent of electronic day trading. Now comes Wall Street's next big wave: after hours trading. For decades, the small investor sat on the sidelines while only large financial institutions participated in after-hours trading. This left the small investor at a distinct disadvantage. Stock prices could soar or tank on overnight news or trading patterns. Individuals were left to the fate of the next day's market open, as prices gapped up or down, leaving them to chase extended stocks or suffer greater losses than might have been the case if they had the ability to enter orders in overnight trade.No more. The potential demand for after-hours trading represented by online investors represents an order flow too tempting for brokerages and alternative trading networks to pass up. Online and traditional brokerages with online facilities are teaming up with electronic communications networks (ECNs) to bring the option of extended-hours to the retail customers. Even the biggest ECN of all, Instinet whose name derived from Institution Network now craves retail order flow and has linked up with E*Trade and other brokerages to fill that need. And on September 16th a deal was announced that would link eight ECN's together, which will result in better trades (from smaller spreads) for the individual investor. The individual is crashing yet another preserve of the mighty institutions, as the democratization of Wall Street nears completion.

The After Hours Trader includes everything an investor needs to trade after hours and participate in today's newest phenomenon, including:How to get started trading after hours, including discussion of brokers, ECN's, executions etc. How to choose the right ECN (Market XT, Instinet, E*Trade) What to expect in the new trading environment (volume trends, price gaps, larger spreads)The advantages (e.g. trading on news before market opens) and pitfalls (e.g. potential for poor executions) of after hours trading Trading tactics for investing on overnight news (quarterly report releases, participating in after-hours conference calls)This is the right book at the right time, but it is essential that we move quickly and be first to market.

Contents

Learning How To Play The Game

• What is After-Hours Trading?
  
• The War on Wall Street
  
• The ECN: Leveling the Playing Field
  
• Getting Started - A Guide to After-Hours Online Brokers
  

How To Play To Win

• 1-Minute strategies for After-Hours Traders
  
• Characteristics of Winning Traders
  
• The Risks of After-Hours Trading
  
• The Rules of Games
  
• Advanced Trading strategies fir the After-Hours Market
  
• The Night Traders : Interview With Two Professionals
  
• What Happens Next?
  

Appendix : Where Do You Go for Help?