How important is Pre/After Hour Trading? Help !
I don't think many brokers offer after hours trading.. Pretty sure TDA doesn't (my account doesn't)...... So what you experienced is just part of the game, and I've experienced it too.. Pretty damn frustrating!!!
But there are ways to lower your risk... For one, look for less volatile stocks.... As a general rule, the lower the share price, the more volatile the stock can be..... For one, they require less capital for the big dogs to manipulate (see penny stocks) And two, NASDAQ and NYSE have certain standards for listed companies, and one of them is a minimum share price... I believe it's $1.00 for both, so the closer a stock is to $1.00, the closer it is to being de-listed.. Which means they're in trouble!
The last way, which hopefully you do already, is pay attention to news.... Maybe your stock just reported a negative earnings surprise, or maybe the company was sued... Any number of things can make a stock drop over night..... There are a number of good apps that you can put you're watchlist on, and they will send you notifications with any news or info pertaining to your stocks...... Ive had Seeking Alpha for a while and I like it.. Also just got the CNBC app, and that one is great too
Btw... Luck has about as much to do with this game as it does with fishing.... You can randomly toss a hook in the water, if you're lucky, you'll get bit.... Or you can pay close attention to the weather conditions and seasonal patterns, and cover a lot of water to eliminate unproductive areas... Then, when you finally land that 10 pounder, you'll understand it was more than luck!