We offer two-way quotes on a variety of markets outside of their traditional trading hours. This enables us to offer continuous, fair trading opportunities, even when the underlying market is shut. However, in these circumstances we cannot draw on the current market price as a reference, so will instead create our own prices to reflect our view of a market’s prospects.
For example, we might price an out-of-hours index by taking into account the performance of other indices around the world that are open. We might also account for our overall clients’ trading activity on the out-of-hours market, or factor in news stories that break outside of the trading session. Since our out-of-hours prices are market-made, automatically priced off moves in correlated markets, you’ll find that our spreads are generally wider than during normal trading hours. This is all done with our clients' best interest in mind.
Weekend markets are an extension to our out-of-hours market offering, with our quotations reflecting our view of the prospects for each market. This includes analysing specific market or geographic news flow which may affect markets that we are pricing. Furthermore, business done by other clients may affect our quotations. There may be nothing against which to measure our quotations at these times, and the market-making element will again necessitate wider spreads than during normal market trading hours. Weekend markets can be used by clients to hedge their existing positions in the markets we offer, though price movements in these markets over the weekend will not affect the status of existing positions. This ensures that clients who do not wish to utilise the weekend offering cannot be adversely affected by it (for example, by having stop losses triggered).
Remember, out-of-hours prices may be very different to those available when the market opens next, so trading on them could lead to a profit or loss that would not have otherwise been incurred if you’d waited