OVERNIGHT TRADING ON GLOBEX
Plain English
Most US futures trade nearly 24 hours via CME Globex. Overnight sessions have lower liquidity and bigger moves on news — opportunities and risks both amplify outside RTH (regular trading hours).
Going deeper
ES, NQ, YM, RTY trade 23 hours/day with a 1-hour daily maintenance break. Liquidity is 5-15% of RTH during Asia hours, building back through European hours. Spreads widen, slippage rises, and single-tick moves carry weight. Major moves often originate overnight on geopolitics, earnings (US after-hours), or Asia macro data. Overnight stops can gap on news — protective options or limited overnight size are common risk mitigations. Overnight 'fair value' calculations help anticipate the cash open's likely level.
Examples
Asia-hours gap
China announces stimulus at 9:00 PM ET. ES rallies 30 points in 5 minutes on thin liquidity. Overnight stops below 30 ticks have no chance of clean fills.
Fair value at open
Overnight session leaves ES at 5,200 with cash close at 5,180. Fair value = +20. Gap-fill traders fade the open expecting reversion to overnight balance.