Long or short at the open

[ralett]

When trading futures contracts, is there a way to enter a buy market or sell market order while the markets are closed, and have those orders execute at the market open?

[NinjaTrader_Manfred]

Hello ralett,

As exchanges automatically reject market orders submitted to a market not currently open, you would not be able to place market orders outside these hours.

The only option I see would be to submit a limit order at the last traded price. This order should submit and appear as an active order to be executed as soon as the market opens, as long as any trades occur at this price point.

Please note: Should the market move significantly right after the open it would still be possible for this order to not execute, as there is no guarantee a limit order will fill.

[NT-Roland]

Hello ralett,
If the order is placed by a strategy, you could perhaps use Ticks and submit a market order right after the first tick?
You wouldn't exactly get the Open, but likely be very close.
If manually, risk is high that a limited order will not fill at the Open, if the market gaps in the opposite direction, unless you apply some generous buffer, if you really want to get in or out at the Open "no matter what". Thus, you could submit a Limit Order, but place the limit so far away that de facto you place(d) a Market Order.
Watch-out: I would only consider this as a potential workaround for very liquid markets. The higher the volume at the Opening auction, the lower the risk to get an unfair execution.
Still, I recommend try this out with small orders with your broker to see what happens before potentially relying on this approach.
NT-Roland

[ralett]

Thanks for the response. I was looking for something like a "Market at Open" order type that allows you to place your order in the trading platform prior to the market opening, the order sits with the broker on their server, and then gets sent to the exchange right at market open. Many brokers and platforms provide these order types, along with many others (like Iceberg Orders, etc.) but I guess NinjaTrader platform/brokerage does not.

[NT-Roland]

Hi ralett,
With NinjaTrader, neither Market at the Open, nor at its Close. Only "close" to these events.
For the open, as described above.
For the close, tick the box "Exit on session close" and specify the "ExitOnSessionCloseSeconds" (Default = 30) you want to exit prior to the end of the session.
True that other platforms/brokers can handle this. I use the opening or/and closing auction elsewhere from time to time.
NT-Roland