Are Price Updates During Pre-open Not Visible On Zerodha? & A Query On Limit/Market Orders In Pre-Open & Gaps

General
1

Hi all,

  1. The Pre-Open rates for individual stocks do not seem to update in Zerodha in real-time, unlike the data for the Indices. On live TV broadcasts, however, they do update in real time.

Am I missing something here?

Is there any other source that gives real time updates for the stock prices during the Pre-Open?

  1. Do Market Orders placed during the Pre-Open get invariably filled at the Equilibrium Price? Or can they be filled at any price other than the Equilibrium Price as well? In other words, does it ever make sense to place a Market Order during the Pre-Open?

As for Limit Orders, does it work the same way it does during the Normal Session? Namely, if there is a match for a Limit Order, it will get filled, & if not, it will be carried over to the Normal Session?

  1. Lastly, during Gap-Ups/Downs, is there any judicious way to enter/exit a position that is reasonably more favourable to you during the Pre-Open itself than if you waited for the Normal Session to commence?

For instance, supposing you wanted to exit a position that you’ve held overnight during the Pre-Open because of some detrimental news which you are sure is bound to cause a Gap-Down.

Is there any way of exiting with a reasonably lesser chance of damage during the Pre-Open? Or is there simply no choice but to either -
a) Put in a Limit Order at a random price & hope for the best or
b) Put in a Market Order upon commencement of the Normal Session?

Thanks for taking the time to help this noob out. Much appreciated.

2

Bump! Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

3

1)The Pre-Open collects orders for the first 8 mins(you can place limit/market orders, modify them etc). The next 4 mins involves order matching and getting to the equilibrium(no orders can be placed during this period) and finally you have a buffer period for the remaining 3 mins. So while the updates aren’t fluent like a regular session, the price should reflect real time values.
2)No, the order will get executed if it matches the equilibrium otherwise it is carried forward into the regular session. So unless you are hitting the equilibrium with a fair level of consistency it doesn’t make sense to place pre-open orders provided your goal is to have your order executed at the pre-open.
3) Yes, if there is a match the limit order will get executed, if not, it is carried forward.
4)Not really, the problem with the aforementioned scenario is with the extent of the gap which would be difficult to determine which again would result in failure to find equilibrium.
The one benefit is that pre-open orders have higher priority which would ensure you get a better price compared to what you would get if you placed an order during the first few seconds of the regular session.

2 Likes
4

Thanks for replying. Much appreciated!