Soon you'll be able to plop your Thinkpad computer onto the dinner table and trade stocks between mouthfuls of meat loaf. Table manners aside, after-hours trading has appeal for those who are too busy during the day to place orders. But there's danger as well for the average investor. But they give up all the safeguards and consistencies they get when they trade during market hours. Using trading networks like Instinet, institutional investors have long been able to trade stocks with each other after the market close.
Individuals currently can place orders through online brokerages any time they like.
But those orders won't be put through until first thing the following morning. Of course, the very reason that many companies wait until after the close is to avoid wild swings in their stock, giving investors the overnight to digest the news. It's intended for sane people who want to trade after hours and see the transaction price they got. Discover customers will trade on a system called Indivex, which will pool orders from numerous brokers and market players. All Discover's approximately 120,000 clients will have access to the after-hours market once it's up and running by summer.