I've been trying to find what the hours are for day trading and for overnight trading are. I've searched Google and this forum and could only find that the exchange is open practically 24 hours a day. I went to the contract specs. on the CME website and it basically only said: Mon/Thurs 5:00 p.m.-3:15 p.m. & 3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.; Shutdown period from 4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. nightly; Sun & Hol 5:00 p.m.-3:15 p.m. Month end(3:15 p.m.) LTD(8:30 a.m.)^^^^^ Can anyone help shed some light on what times is considered holding a position overnight so that I can figure out the margin needed for that time period? Thanks in advance!
It depends on your brokerage. For example, I've seen posts from IB customers where overnite rates applied to trades put on 2 minutes before the market open. For myself (not an IB customer), overnite rates apply to any open contracts @3:16pm, returning to day trade rates @5:30am (2 hours prior to market open based on my timezone). With some brokerages this can be negotiable to some extent. You must ask your brokerage when and how overnight/daytrade rates are applied for your account.