those who recommend selling in premarket

rklamot said: "A few of you have recommended trying to sell shares in pre-market, as this seems to be when buyers will pay premium price for your shares.. i forget who gave this advice but I sure remember it clear as a bell. Is this a good strategy in general? Trying to push shares a li'l bit higher in the pre-market hours (providing there is no bad news attached to the company that day) thanks ! :whacky011:"

thezster said: "Not sure what you mean about pushing prices..... if you sell in premarket - you're actually having a negative effect on the price... not much of one usually, but a downtick just the same.. After today's incredible run on NTRI - and the fact that I've been unable to log on all day for whatever reason.... I plan on doing a Zster dissertation on premarket activity later... Gotta get dinner going now"

thezster said: "How many times have we said “Don’t buy stocks during pre/post market hours? And, how many times has someone written “Can I buy early during pre-market when good news comes out then sell when the price “Naturally” rises”? The activity of NTRI over the past couple of sessions should serve as a lesson to those who continue to think after hours markets are designed to provide buying opportunities of any sort. On Wed., after 3 days of solid gains leading up to earnings (which were anticipated to be good), we finally got to the moment earnings were to be announced. The price has climbed all during the day (3.6% rise that day alone) as investors/traders “got on board the freight train”. Everyone waited with breathless anticipation…. And after hours trading in the stock was suspended during the announcement…… Suddenly the news was out… earnings has surpassed all expectations – guidance was raised…… analysts were cooing…. And all was well with the world! When trading resumed (during after hours, immediately following the announcement) the price immediately shot up almost 20% to $68.25 from the market close of $58.24. That’s a rise of $10.00/share in the space of a second. From there, over the next hour or so, the price ran from $67.00 – down to around $63.50 … fluctuating wildly. When the dust had cleared, the price had stabilized around $65/share with almost 900,000 shares traded during the after hours frenzy. Those who bought at $68.25 probably felt safe though not thrilled – and those who bought at $63.50 were feeling a bit smug – no doubt! The next morning it started all over again during pre-market – with the price flying between the $63 and $67 range until the market opened…. There was little rhyme or reason to it – just wild swings from one side to the other and people tried to snag some profits – get on board – and/or cover their losses…. I just sat and watched in awe. Finally, on Thursday morning, the market opened – and from 9:30E.T. on… the price of NTRI did a steady and reasonably quick decline from the highs of AH trading to it’s final close at $60.15. There were, in fact, some pretty wild swings during regular trading also – but still consisted of a shorter’s wet dream (I tried to short but couldn’t borrow the shares… DAMN). Anyone who bought during AH with the hopes of riding this puppy to next years highs is now crying in his soup as they either “lost a few bucks/share when they panicked and sold” or “ are now holding this stock at up to a $7 deficit. (Can you imagine being the guy who bought shares at $68.25 on the news announcement…. And is holding an empty bag right now?) ( On the other hand, can you imagine being the guy who bought early in the day at $56 and sold to that previously mentioned idiot at $68.25??) Which guy do you want to be? This particular lesson doesn’t apply to every AH session – but it does seem to apply to most….. The typical overreaction of the market seems exaggerated during pre/post market activity – making it a good place to dump shares……. But a dangerous place to buy them….."

newinvestor123 said: "That sounds like a pretty good general rule... Glad I followed it yesterday morning! :respect:"

LongArm said: "[QUOTE=thezster]The typical overreaction of the market seems exaggerated during pre/post market activity – making it a good place to dump shares……. But a dangerous place to buy them…..[/QUOTE] Yeah, extended hours trading is usually more volatile than regular session trading because volume is much lighter. That's why you're typically only allowed to use limit orders in pre/post market trading (although I've read that there are some ECNs/brokers who do allow market orders). Nice post, Z."