Placing options trades the night before versus day of

[bycfly]

I live in the west coast, so trading days start at 6:30am here. Is it not safe to place, say, buying a call the night before? I've tried that and the option expires so I do not place the trade and I am not sure why.

[ammarmalhas]

I have placed orders the night before several times (I live GMt+3, EST +7) with TD Ameritrade and others.

Orders placed starting midnight EST will work for the day. So if you place orders after midnight EST (9:31pm PST your time) they should remain intact for the trading day.

Moreover, you can always place GTC orders and give them expiry the day you want them expired; place them anytime today and set the expiry to tomorrow. If you place orders after hours you will have a one day working order for the next day, if you place them before market closes you will have an order expanding the remainder of today and tomorrow.

I hope this helps.

As for "safety" of placing orders while markets are closed, well it really depends on what you feel the option will trade for on open while you are asleep. I have often placed buy orders at lower than market anticipating some downward move in the stock and I got filled, and i have done some sell orders at higher than market! The more volatile the stock is the less advisable you place such orders "in the dark".

Good luck with your trading.