You can enable after hours trading at Fidelity without flipping a dedicated switch, extended-hours privileges are granted automatically when you open a brokerage account, and the only thing you need to do before your first trade is acknowledge the ECN User Agreement. That agreement appears on your screen during trade placement, so there’s no separate settings page to hunt for; once you accept it, you can place orders in the 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET session.
Do you need to enable after hours trading at Fidelity?
No, there is no “enable” toggle or activation step for after hours trading at Fidelity. Extended hours trading privileges are typically granted automatically when you open a Fidelity brokerage account. The only prerequisite is that you have a brokerage account, not a cash management or retirement-only account, because the feature is tied to your trading permissions. What you do need to do, however, is acknowledge the ECN User Agreement before your first extended hours order. That agreement is presented to you as part of the trade ticket the first time you try to place an after hours order, and it covers the rules and risks of trading on electronic communication networks. Accepting it once is enough; you won’t be asked again on subsequent trades.
When can you trade after hours at Fidelity?
The after hours session at Fidelity runs from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. This window begins the moment the regular market closes and ends four hours later. Any orders you place during this session that remain unfilled at 8:00 p.m. ET are automatically canceled, they do not carry over to the next trading day. That means you cannot leave a resting order overnight and expect it to fill in the pre-market session; you must re-enter it the next morning. The session is continuous, so you can place, modify, or cancel orders at any point between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. ET, subject to the order type and security eligibility rules below.
How to accept the ECN User Agreement and place your first after hours trade
Placing your first after hours trade at Fidelity is a straightforward process that happens entirely through the standard trade ticket. Follow these steps in order:
- Log in to your Fidelity brokerage account on the website or mobile app.
- Choose the security you want to trade, make sure it’s an eligible stock or ETF (see the next section for what qualifies).
- Select “Limit” as the order type. Market orders are not allowed during extended hours.
- Set your limit price, the maximum you’ll pay to buy or the minimum you’ll accept to sell.
- Choose a time-in-force of “Day” or “Immediate or Cancel” (IOC). These are the only two options permitted.
- Enter the number of shares. For IOC orders, the minimum is 200 shares; for Day orders, the maximum is 5,000 shares.
- Review the order details. If this is your first after hours trade, a prompt will appear asking you to acknowledge the ECN User Agreement.
- Accept the agreement, then submit your order.
Once you accept the ECN agreement, the trade ticket will show that your order is routed for extended hours execution. You’ll receive a confirmation when the order is filled, partially filled, or canceled at the end of the session.
Which order types and stocks are allowed?
Only limit orders are permitted during after hours trading at Fidelity. Market orders are not allowed because there is no continuous auction to establish a fair opening or closing price; a limit order ensures you don’t pay more or receive less than your specified price. The time-in-force must be either “Day” or “Immediate or Cancel.” A Day order remains active until 8:00 p.m. ET, while an IOC order is filled immediately or canceled in part, if only some shares are available, the unfilled portion is canceled. For IOC orders, the minimum quantity is 200 shares. For Day orders, the maximum order size is 5,000 shares. Eligible securities include listed equities (stocks trading on NYSE, Nasdaq, etc.) and OTC equities, but pink sheets and bulletin board stocks are excluded. Short sales are allowed only during the first hour of the after hours session, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET; after that, short selling is not permitted.
What to expect: liquidity, pricing, and risks
After hours trading at Fidelity operates with significantly lower liquidity than the regular session. Fewer participants means wider bid-ask spreads, so you may pay more to buy or receive less to sell than you would during 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. Price volatility is also higher, a single large order can move a stock several percentage points in seconds. The main benefit of trading after hours is the ability to react to earnings announcements and news that break after the close. If a company reports better-than-expected results at 4:05 p.m., you can position yourself before the next regular session opens. But that same news can cause sharp price swings, and your limit order may fill at a price far from the last regular-session close. Execution risk is real: your order might not fill at all if no counterparty is willing to trade at your limit price, or it might fill only partially. Always use limit orders, never market orders, and be prepared for the possibility that your trade doesn’t execute.
Getting help if your order won’t go through
If you encounter an issue placing an after hours order, such as a rejection message, an error about the ECN agreement, or a security that appears unavailable, Fidelity’s support team can help. You can call their phone support line, use the online chat feature on their website, or visit a local branch in person. Before reaching out, have your account number and the exact error message or order details ready. The support representative can check whether the security is eligible, confirm your account permissions, or walk you through the ECN agreement acceptance if it didn’t appear correctly. Most order-related problems are resolved quickly once you’ve acknowledged the agreement and are using the correct order type and time-in-force. If your order still won’t go through, the representative can verify whether the security is excluded from extended hours trading or whether your account has any restrictions that need to be lifted.
