You hear it time and time again to never trade after-hours,
but people still do it. Greed is good,
unless you are trading after the market closes.
It just does not make sense for the average investor to go this
route. I would say most investors are
taught a lesson the hard way. There are
several examples I could point out in just the last couple of weeks, but two
that stuck out were the Apple and Visa release of earnings. These stocks traded much lower in after-hours
only to reverse their course when the market opened the next day.
Now you could say I would have bought at the lower price and
scored a quick profit the next day. I
would say to this, hindsight is 20/20.
The truth of the matter is if one were holding the stock most average
investors would have sold the stock thinking the resent run up was over. If you were looking to get into the stock, I
am sure the drop in price had you too scared to pull the trigger. An old saying comes to mind here and that is,
"if you don't know the sucker at the table, it's probably you".
After-hours trading does not have nearly the volume of a
regular trading day so the swings in price can get outrageous and if you put in
a market order, you could REALLY get burned.
I have never traded after-hours and will not do so. It is to big of a gamble and one that has the
odds stacked against you before you even place your first order.
The temptation of easy money will always draw people into
trying this and you might even hit a couple practice trades, in your head, out
of the park. In most cases, you will
lose so stick with the regular hours and do your homework.