Go Home Already! Your After-Hours Trading Need-to-Know List

Investing online after hours is a bit like skydiving. Even after you've researched the risks, you don't really know what it's like until there's nothing between you and the ground.

The After-Hours Club
Bell Curve: How After-Hours Trading Foreshadowed Tuesday's Ameritech Selloff

The potential pitfalls of after-hours trading have been well documented: low liquidity, wide spreads between the bid and ask prices, and savvy institutional bullies looking to take advantage of your missteps. If you're still interested, here's a look at how you can trade stocks during extended hours.

Once you choose the online broker that best suits your needs, experts suggest you review two key elements of extended hours trading you may not be familiar with: limit orders and the order book. ...