Weekend trading guide
After-hours vs overnight vs weekend trading
Outside the 9:30-to-4:00 session there are three distinct windows, and each supports different products at different prices.
Last reviewed
After-hours (to about 8 PM ET)
The classic extended session most brokers support. Real shares, meaningful liquidity right after the close and around earnings releases, fading as the evening goes on.
Overnight (weeknights)
Broker overnight sessions and index futures cover the hours between the evening and the next pre-market — on weeknights only. Liquidity is thin but the products are the familiar ones: shares and futures.
Weekend (Friday evening to Sunday evening)
Different in kind, not just degree: no share venue and no U.S. futures session is open at all. The prices that exist are stock, metal, oil and index perpetuals on 24/7 venues. One number to anchor on: the weekend is roughly 65 continuous hours — the longest stretch of the week without an official price.
One caution about comparing prices across windows
Each window has its own venue and its own price. An after-hours share print, an overnight futures level and a weekend perpetual mark can all differ from each other and from the last official close. Every price on this site is labeled with its venue and instrument for exactly that reason.