Crack-of-dawn Stock Trading Capabilities

Wall Street Journal

Along with your morning cup of coffee,try getting in some premarket tradingbefore you set forth for your medical practice.Trading stocks, stock futures, and commoditiesbefore the opening of US stockexchanges and Nasdaq allows greater flexibilityto the physician-investor. Quoted andexecuted through electronic communicationsnetworks, these computerized stocktradingsystems match buyers and sellersto execute a limit order, which is an orderto buy or sell a security at a specific price.According to the , networkssuch as Archipelago or Instinet providethe platform for investors to trade inthe wee hours of the morning. You can alsolink directly through brokerage Web sitessuch as Fidelity, which allows trades on allNasdaq and listed securities between 7:30AM and 9:15 AM. For those of you with asleep cycle on par with a rooster, other premarketsessions can begin as early 4 AM,and most markets are open by 8 AM.However, premarket trading does involvesome risks and may not be right for allphysician-investors. Greater price volatility,lack of liquidity, and wide price spreads aresome points to consider. To learn moreabout Fidelity's extended-hours trading,visit www.fidelity.com.