Stock Investing 101

The stock market is generally open Monday through Friday 9:30 A.M. to 4:00 P.M., however shares of companies can still be exchange before and after.

You can buy shares of companies after 4:00 by buying “after hours”. I do not recommend buying stock after hours.

• The first reason is that the stock market will open tomorrow! If you want to buy shares of a company, just wait until the next day. If you wanted to buy on a friday but couldn’t, just wait until monday. The company should still be relatively the same 12 hours later so there shouldn’t be much of a jump either way.
• The second reason is that there is more stock market manipulation after hours. Since shares are much more lightly traded after hours it is easier to manipulate the prices of a company.

The best thing that you can do in this situation is to wait and have enough patience to buy shares of the company the next day that the stock market is open. Buying shares of companies is a great experience and a great investment, but it is in your best interest to only invest when the stock market is 100% open and in session.