keep in mind that during earning season we typically see a sharp increase in trading activity, in both the pre-market and after-hours session, on many stocks immediately following their earnings report and the subsequent conference call. these after-hours trades can often be very volatile and all over the board from one trade to the next, depending on the liquidity of the issue.
my preference is to take advantage of this volatility by selecting to option to allow my closing trades (GTC sell limit orders for longs/GTC buy-to-cover limit order for shorts) to be filled outside of regular trading hours in addition to the regular trading session. at times this has allowed me to exit a position at my predetermined profit target, usually a resistance or support area, as it was hit in the post-earnings chop, when often those trades would not have been filled the next day or later in the regular session. a couple of months back i posted the benefits of what i refer to in trading as “velocity”, which basically says the sooner you can hit your profit target on a position and get out, the sooner you can redeploy that capital into a new trade that offers the potential for greater gains from that point, sort of like an accelerated compounding of interest thing.
on a related note, the CMG active short is trading down over 10% in the after-hours session following their earnings release, not too far above T1. i plan to hold out for at least T3 on this trade but wanted to point that out for anyone planning to book some or all profits at T1.
