I'm new to futures trading. I noticed that there are pre-open hours each day in the futures market. For example the pre-open begins at 17:45 for Crude Oil Financial Futures. What exactly is pre-open? Is it similar to the pre-market in stocks trading? Can orders be filled in the futures pre-open? Thanks.
pre market - you can enter the order to buy or sell. you can change your buy or sell level, quantity, or cancel the order. I think 1 minute before opening, no cancellation is allowed but level can still be adjusted. exactly at opening hour, matching is done. and some of the trades entered during premarket are executed. and that's where you get opening price.