Night Owl Update: Livening Up the After-Hours Trading Party

The big hitters are on deck.

Charles Schwab (SCH Quote), the nation's largest online brokerage, in early October said it would start letting its 6.5 million customers trade after the official stock market close. Through the RediBook ECN, in which Schwab recently took a 25% stake, customers will be able to place trades from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Time. Schwab will be accepting limit orders for most Nasdaq and listed stocks.

That announcement followed by only a week news that Merrill Lynch (MER Quote) -- which like Schwab will start offering a $29.95 online trade this fall -- wants to be a player in the after-hours game too. Merrill's still-nascent plan includes an after-hours service through the Archipelago ECN, in which Merrill has a stake, and Knight/Trimark (NITE Quote), which clears through Merrill. ...