Hi I want to understand something, I've set a LMT order to sell 100 stocks of X for 80. In the after hours the price of the stock jumped from 78 to 84 and then back to 78. The stock opened the day after it for 79. If I would have set my order to fill outside RTH would I get filled? I don't see why shouldn't I always allow fill outside RTH? why should I care when do I get filled when I use LMT orders?
Outside RTH trading is trading in thin markets, and it's always hard to generalize about trading thin markets, except to note that any errant behavior tends to be *bigly* errant. That said, as you note, if you're content (let's say) with $80, then you're good to go! If it opened at $83.50 after a pop to $84, that might give you a bit of "Awwwww." but I just sold out of TSLA for $205 last month -- TSLA is kissing $280 right now. THE POINT IS...... that when we set a target -- especially a hard target that we actually code into (for example) a profit-taking exit -- if the trade goes *beyond* our exit, we should *first* be glad we got hit. If the trade keeps going, should only clue us to examine our prior choice of exit, NOT question the exit (action) itself. ("It's gone, Cupcake!") Watch any earnings report, and the candle-dance that accompanies it. That pop to $84 might have produced a $76 open the next day, right? Sheeesh. "What is your best information at the time you place the trade?" (And keep in mind that, when you shut your machine off, you are effectively *re-placing* the trade, as if it were new. That's an important bit of reality.) Thus??? Thus, if you feel *good* about getting hit, get hit! RTH, Outside RTH! We just can't tell when things swing big. If you "win" -- don't celebrate. If you "lose" -- *don't* moan. (Okay, so, I moan *loudly*. But I do know better what I *should* do. So there. "Examine, determine, act, re-evaluate. But don't moan.") "IMO."
Would your order have been filled? Maybe yes, maybe no. Probably depends on how much volume was actually trading in after hours. There are far fewer market participants outside of regular trading hours, so the expectation of very efficient markets, NBBO, etc isn't what you would expect during the normal session. Depends what exchange your order was routed to, and what exchanges the other orders were routed to. Why care about it? A lot of news events happen outside of RTH that can greatly impact the valuation of a stock (such as earnings, M&A news, etc.).... and that, combined with the lower liquidity can be a recipe for later regretting getting filled at your limit price