Interactive Brokers expands after-hours stock and ETF trading

July 25, 2023 -  Interactive Brokers has expanded its overnight trading service, allowing clients to trade an additional 10,000 US stocks and ETFs during extended hours.

The company states this increases the range of securities available to clients nearly 24 hours per day, five days a week. Interactive Brokers first introduced after-hours equity trading in 2020.

The extended overnight trading hours run from 8pm to 4am Eastern Time in the US. Orders executed between 8pm and midnight carry the following day's trade date.

Interactive Brokers connects to alternative trading system Blue Ocean to supplement its own overnight liquidity. The integration aims to provide optimal routing and execution.

Company executives frame the move as added flexibility and accessibility for clients, particularly those outside the Americas. 

“Overnight Trading is an important service that helps our clients make timely trading decisions and capture investment opportunities around the clock,” said Milan Galik, Chief Executive Officer at Interactive Brokers. “By extending Overnight Trading to thousands of US stocks and ETFs, our global clients have a greater choice of what and when to trade at almost any time. When clients choose Overnight Trading to place an order, the IB SmartRoutingSM technology automatically routes the order to the optimal Overnight Trading destination.”

Brian Hyndman, CEO of Blue Ocean Technologies, added: “Interactive Brokers is the perfect broker for us to connect to because of their global footprint and commitment to market access for investors worldwide. We are pleased to collaborate with Interactive Brokers and help further our mission to give investors the ability to trade US markets regardless of their time zone.”

Interactive Brokers’ regular market hours, extended hours and Overnight Trading Hours enable clients to trade eligible US stocks and ETFs nearly 24 hours a day, five days a week. Overnight Trading Hours are from 8:00 pm ET to 3:50 am ET, with the first session of the week beginning on Sunday at 8:00 pm ET and the last session ending on Friday at 3:50 am ET. Any trades executed between 8:00 pm ET and 12:00 am ET will carry a trade date of the following trade day.