Afterbell

Connecting

Docs Guides

Trade an earnings report

Find the report, know the guarded minutes, and have an order go out on its own before the release.

A report can move a stock several percent in seconds, and these perps keep trading through it. Here is how to be ready for one.

1. Find it

The earnings calendar lists every report in your time, with before or after the market, the forecast and the stock’s usual move while shut. On the markets board, a stock reporting this week carries a tag with the day.

The earnings calendar listing this week's reports
This week’s reports, in your time.

2. Know the guarded minutes

For a report before the open, leverage is capped at 3x from 06:30 New York until 15 minutes after the open; after the close, from 15:45 to 17:30. You can trade anyway; the cap is a default.

3. Place it to go out on its own

  1. Open the stock’s terminal. Choose Market or Limit, the side and the size.
  2. Under When, choose Before the report: the order goes out a few minutes ahead of the release, with the countdown shown.
  3. Switch on TP/SL, with a stop wider than the usual move: reports move more than ordinary nights.
  4. Turn on running while away if the tab may be closed by then.
The When choices with Before the report and its countdown
Before the report, with the time left.

Next morning it carries a Reported tag on the board, and the night report has how it moved.