Knowledge Base

The stock market doesn’t simply switch on at 9:15 AM and off at 3:30 PM. There are two additional sessions, one before the regular market opens and one after it closes. Here’s how each one works.

Pre-market session: 9:00 AM – 9:15 AM

The pre-market session runs for 15 minutes before regular trading begins and has three windows:

1. 9:00 AM – 9:07 AM — Order entry: Place, modify, or cancel orders. Both limit and market orders are accepted.
2. 9:07 AM – 9:08 AM — Order matching: The exchange determines the opening price through a call auction. No new orders can be placed during this window.
3. 9:08 AM – 9:15 AM — Buffer period: Transition window before the regular session. No order activity permitted.

This session helps reduce sharp price gaps at market open by collecting orders in advance and discovering the opening price through an auction.

Pre-open session for futures contracts

Futures contracts follow the same 9:00 AM – 9:15 AM pre-open window, with two restrictions:

• Only current month contracts can be traded
• In the 5 trading days before a contract’s expiry, only the next month’s contract can be traded in pre-open. 

Post-market session: 3:40 PM – 4:00 PM

After the regular market closes at 3:30 PM, the post-market session runs from 3:40 PM to 4:00 PM. During this window, you can place orders only at the official closing price of the day calculated as a weighted average of the last 30 minutes of the regular session.

This is useful if you want to transact at a known, fixed price without monitoring the market at 3:30 PM. Only equity shares are eligible . F&O, currency, and commodities are not part of this session.