1. US Stock Exchange
US EST:
Premarket session: 04:00-9:30; Regular trading hours: 09:30-16:00; Aftermarket session: 16:00-20:00; Overnight session: 20:00-04:00.
Beijing time:
DST: Premarket session: 16:00-21:30; Regular trading hours: 21:30-04:00; Aftermarket session: 04:00-08:00; Overnight session: 08:00-16:00.
WT: Premarket session: 17:00:00-22:30; Regular trading hours: 22:30-05:00; Aftermarket session 05:00-09:00; Overnight session: 09:00-17:00.
In general, trading hours other than regular trading hours are collectively referred to as "extended trading hours". Please refer to Extended Hours Trading (U.S. Market) Risk Disclosure Statement for the risks of extended trading hours.
2. Minimum trading unit for US stocks
Unlike A shares and HK stocks that the minimum trading unit is 1 lot. Instead, the minimum trading unit is 1 share.
3. The price rise and fall of US stocks
Unlike A shares, US stocks are not subject to single-day price rise and fall limits, therefore investors should be able to better manage their risks.
4. Intraday trading of US stocks
Intraday trading involves high risk. Before you start trading, please read theRisk Exposure toIntraday Trading.
Intraday trading, also known as day trading, refers to a trading behavior where a client buys or sells positions of a stock or stock option within one trading day. Intraday trading is also generally referred to as T+0 trade.
For intraday trading, clients with Tiger Brokers accounts are not subject to frequency limits and capital amount.
5. US stock settlement and delivery mechanism
US stocks follows T+2 settlement arrangement where clearing and settlement will be completed on the second working day after the trade is transacted.
6. US Stock Markets
(1) New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
As the second largest stock exchange in terms of trading volume, NYSE has about 2,800 listed companies with a global market capitalization of USD15 trillion.
(2) Nasdaq Stock Market (NASDAQ)
NASDAQ, an intangible market based on electronic network, has about 5,400 listed companies, making it the largest stock market in the US in terms of quantity of listed companies and stock trading volume. NASDAQ is also the largest stock electronic exchange market in the US and the world.
(3) American Stock Exchange (AMEX)
AMEX, currently the third largest stock exchange in the US, is the only stock exchange which can simultaneously engage in the trading of stocks, options and derivative products and it is the only stock exchange which pays attention to unvalued mid-and small-cap companies and provides a series of services for such companies to gain more awareness.
(4) Pink Sheet Exchange (PK)
Pink Sheet Exchange has been included into the lowest quotation system of NASDAQ, serving as a primary quotation form of OTC in the US.
(5) Over-the-Counter (OTC)
OTC markets refer to stock exchange markets on counters of various stock exchange institutions outside stock exchanges (or asset trading network without centralized premise). In broad terms, US OTC markets include NASDAQ, OTCBB and Pink Sheet Exchange, which are listed as follows in order of the listing pricing requirements: NASDAQ → OTCBB → PK.
7. What is a Direct Public Offering (DPO)?
Direct public offering (DPO), also known as direct listing, refers to a way that allows a company to trade its shares publicly without an investment bank used in its initial public offering (IPO).
DPO is an alternative of IPO where a company does not have to work with an investment bank to underwrite an offering. In such a case, giving up the safety net provided by an underwriter, but it is a faster and cheaper manner in fund raising and the opening price is highly dependent on market demands and influenced by market volatility.
Unlike fundraising from external parties in IPO, DPO allows a company’s employees and investors to convert their company ownership into public trading shares. The public investors are free to buy the listed shares and the existing investors may sell their shareholding at any point in time without any lockup period.
How to participate in DPO?
Once shares are issued on the open market, customers who have Tiger Brokers trading account may entire the position.
FAQs
1. What are the differences between DPO and IPO?
In terms of similarity, DPO and IPO both allow private companies to list publicly and sell on the open market. Although IPO is a traditional method of listing, DPO is increasingly noticed and welcomed, by which large-scale companies like Spotify were listed.
Different from IPO where initial public offering is carried out before actual listing, DPO shares can only be traded in the first listing day where shares held by existing private investors and employees can sell at the open market. Therefore, DPO protects the value of shares from being diluted on the market and provides an approach for early-stage investors to sell shares more quickly than IPO. There is often a lockup period of IPO, because fund raising shall happen prior to selling original shares.
Generally, DPO is faster and cheaper than IPO. Traditional IPO involves one or more investment banks in its offering. Underwriting groups are responsible for multiple aspects of IPO. Though using underwriting group may increase the business cost and the time for publicly fund raising, it largely keeps the procedure safe. When a company becomes listed thru IPO, underwriters will distribute the shares to the selected securities brokers, who then will impose retriction on IPO participants.
DPO is a fair listing method that allows everyone to participate in trading when the shares are listed on the market. Tradable shares are determined by early-stage investors, while price depends on market demand. This makes DPO riskier than IPO, because there may be significant market volatilities and ups and downs.
2. Is there any qualification requirement or any requirement for filling in an intention form for a DPO participant?
When a company becomes listed thru DPO, there are no qualification requirements nor any other requirements form submission; the only requirement is to ensure there are sufficient funds available for share purchase in the account.
3. Is there any other company listed through DPO?
Typically, small companies in food and biotech industries go public by means of DPO.
4. what is Limit Up – Limit Down (LULD)?
In order to address extraordinary short-term market volatility, the SEC created individual stock circuit breakers. This is in addition to market-wide circuit breakers. The objective is to prevent trades from occurring outside applicable price bands, as well as require exchanges and FINRA to pause trading in a stock if the price moves by more than a specified percentage (usually 5% or 10%) in a five-minute period. The SEC requires market centers (exchanges) to create and enforce policies and procedures that are designed to comply with LULD requirements and trading pauses. The rule applies only to NMS securities (which include exchange-traded funds).
Price Bands ：The price bands established under LULD are set at a percentage above and below the reference price. The reference price for each security is based on the opening price or quote on the primary listing exchange and, thereafter, on the trading that occurred over the preceding five minutes of trading. The price bands below are applicable between 9:45 a.m. (ET) to 3:35 p.m. (ET). The price bands are doubled during the first 15 minutes of trading (9:30 – 9:45 a.m.) and the last 25 minutes of trading (3:35 – 4:00 p.m.).
Previous Closing Price | Percentage Parameters |
For stocks greater than $3.00 | -For stocks in the S&P 500 or Russell 1,000: 5% -For all other NMS stocks: 10% |
For stocks at or above $.75, up to and including $3.00 | 20% |
For stocks lesser than $.75 | The lesser of $.15 or 75% |