Options on the ES Future: Trading Hours, Configuration, and Stops

1. Overview

Options on the ES Future can be traded nearly around the clock. This means trading hours and some stop and exit functions differ from trading SPX or stock options.

This article describes the main special features when configuring and trading ES Future options in OptionsApp.

2. Trading Hours and Trading Day

The ES Session begins at 18:00 US Eastern Time (New York) on the evening before and ends the following day at 17:00. A daily trading pause takes place between 17:00 and 18:00.

Regular ES trading hours begin at 09:30 and end at 17:00. Regular ES trading hours are therefore one hour longer than regular US stock exchange trading hours.

With options on futures, there is no separate after-hours time within the ongoing session. Outside regular trading hours, the main difference is liquidity. Quotes can be significantly thinner or occasionally one-sided only.

What is also crucial is the assignment to the trading day: the session beginning at 18:00 already belongs to the following trading day.

A trade opened on Monday at 18:30 is therefore a Tuesday trade. In the Dashboard, this trade appears under Tuesday. This assignment also applies to weekday filters, DTE, and the day counter for the maximum number of executions.

In Germany, the new session normally begins at 00:00. For a Tuesday trade, you can therefore enter 00:00 directly as "Exec. Time" in the Tuesday row.

Important: 17:00 New York time is the session end, not the beginning of the next session. This is followed by the daily trading pause.

3. Configuration in OptionsApp

Three steps are required to trade outside regular trading hours:

1. Search for "ES" in the Underlying selection and choose Weekly, Monthly, or All. (IMPORTANT: Make sure you select the futures contract. There is also a stock with the ticker symbol ES.)
2. Enable "Use Ext. Hours Orders" in the Trade Template.
3. In the configuration, enter the desired time under "Exec. Time" in the set time zone.

OptionsApp automatically recognizes which trading day the entered time must be assigned to.

If a configured time falls outside the session, within the daily pause, or if "Use Ext. Hours Orders" is missing from the used Trade Template, a corresponding notice appears directly in the configuration.

If the execution time falls on the evening before according to the local calendar, OptionsApp marks the time additionally with a crescent moon and "(day before)".

In the Dashboard, the trade always appears under the corresponding trading day regardless.

The market status for ES can display the following states:

OPEN: Regular trading hours

OPEN (Ext.): Ongoing session outside regular trading hours

CLOSED: Daily pause or weekend

OPEN (Ext.) is a regular state for ES due to the long session and does not indicate a malfunction.

3.1 Entry and Exit Conditions

If Entry or Exit Conditions are to be evaluated outside regular trading hours, you must additionally enable "Include ext. hours" in the respective condition dialog.

This can also change indicator values. An EMA over the entire session can for example produce different values than an EMA that considers only regular trading hours. With existing templates, this can change the signals.

4. Stops and Exits

For ES, a distinction must be made between orders placed directly with IB and functions evaluated by OptionsApp itself.

Placed with IB

• Stop Loss
• Profit Target
• Exit when underlying price

Evaluated by OptionsApp

• Early Exit
• Exit when Delta
• Exit when Short/Long Ratio
• Entry and Exit Conditions

A Stop Loss on ES is placed as a Stop-Market Order with the broker and can be active outside regular trading hours as well. This applies at leg, group, and combo levels.

Early Exit as well as Delta and Ratio Exits can also be evaluated during the extended ES session. Since these functions are controlled by OptionsApp, the app must be running and the required market data must be available.

If, for example, current Greeks or suitable quotes are unavailable, the corresponding check does not take place. OptionsApp does not trade on data it does not have access to.

5. Important Special Features

Outside regular trading hours, liquidity can be significantly lower. A stop can trigger at a price even though no corresponding tradable market exists. Conversely, it may also fail to trigger due to missing suitable market data.

Functions evaluated by OptionsApp itself require a running application and available data. Orders placed with the broker remain fundamentally unaffected by this.

During the ES session, regular technical resets by Interactive Brokers can also temporarily cause connection or market data outages.

Expiration is particularly important: if an ES Future option expires in the money without being closed beforehand, this can result in a position in the ES Future in your account. SPX options are settled in cash instead.

On expiration day, trading of the expiring ES Weekly ends at 16:00 New York time, one hour before the regular session end.

6. Differences to SPX

Session: ES: approximately 23 hours. SPX / Stock options: Regular trading hours

Extended trading hours in OptionsApp: ES: Yes. SPX / Stock options: No

Settlement at expiration: ES: Future position possible. SPX / Stock options: Cash for SPX / Stock for stock options

Stop Loss with Ext. Hours: ES: Possible at all levels. SPX / Stock options: Limited

Delta, Ratio, and Strike Offset Exit outside regular hours: ES: Possible. SPX / Stock options: Locked

This special treatment results from the chosen underlying ES. For execution outside regular trading hours, "Use Ext. Hours Orders" must additionally be enabled in the Trade Template.