What Did NYSE American Approve for Extended-Hours Options?

On August 28, 2026, the SEC approved, on an accelerated basis, NYSE American's rules for extended-hours trading in certain equity options. The rules add an Early Trading Session from 7:30 a.m. to 9:25 a.m. ET and a Late Trading Session from 4:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. ET for up to 100 multiply-listed option classes, with no market orders. Approval is not a launch: the exchange said it would not start until the SEC approved a separate Options Clearing Corporation rule, which happened on September 23. NYSE's September 18 Trader Update schedules the start for Monday, October 19, 2026, pending regulatory effectiveness.

What did the SEC approve for NYSE American on August 28, 2026?

The SEC approved NYSE American's proposal, file number SR-NYSEAMER-2026-34, in Release No. 34-106218. The exchange filed it on June 5, 2026, replaced it with Amendment No. 1 on July 31, and replaced that with Amendment No. 2 on August 17. The order approves the proposal as modified by Amendment No. 2 and, in the same document, opens a 21-day comment period on that amendment.

"Accelerated approval" means the SEC approved the change before the usual 30 days after the notice appears in the Federal Register. The Commission's stated reason was that Amendment No. 2 brought the filing closer to what other exchanges are already allowed to do. Two new rules carry the substance. Rule 901.1NY creates the two extra sessions, and Rule 901.2NY, titled Extended Hours Trading, governs what happens in them, while Rule 952NYP is amended for the opening auction.

Cboe and Nasdaq MRX received approval for similar sessions earlier in 2026, and NYSE American followed them. If you want the broader picture, including how Cboe's version works, hi2morrow's guide to the extended trading hours for stock options covers it. This article stays on what is specific to NYSE American.

When are NYSE American extended-hours options sessions?

There are two sessions on top of the Core Trading Session, which runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. The Early Trading Session runs from 7:30 a.m. to 9:25 a.m., and the Late Trading Session runs from 4:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. The five minutes between 9:25 and 9:30 a.m. are deliberately empty. The exchange says it ends the early session at 9:25 because quote widths and market maker participation differ between sessions.

The calendar follows the Core session. If there is no Core Trading Session, as on a market holiday, there is no Early or Late session either. On a shortened day, the Early session still runs before the open, and the Late session starts when the shortened Core session ends and lasts 15 minutes. The order's own example is a 1:00 p.m. close, which gives a Late session from 1:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. For the dates themselves, see hi2morrow's guide to stock market holidays, early closes, and settlement dates, and for how the same early-close days affect stock orders, its guide to extended-hours trading on an early-close day.

The Early session is electronic only. The trading floor stays open for the Core session and for the Late session, and open outcry orders are not permitted in the Early session.

Which options can trade in the Early and Late sessions?

Only multiply-listed equity option classes that pass three tests can be designated, and the exchange can designate no more than 100 of them. The option class must average at least 150,000 contracts a day, the underlying stock must have a market capitalization of at least $50 billion, and the stock must average at least 10 million shares a day. The first list uses data from the nearest six-month period ending June 30 or December 31 before launch. Meeting the tests does not guarantee inclusion. The exchange is not obliged to designate every qualifying class, so the final list may be shorter than 100.

There is one carve-out. A class that another exchange already trades outside the Core session can be added without counting toward the 100-class limit. Options on ETFs and ETNs that already trade until 4:15 p.m. as part of the Core session stay there and do not get a separate Late session.

After launch, the list is reviewed twice a year, following January 1 and July 1, using the previous six months of data. Newly qualifying classes can start on February 1 or August 1. A class that stops qualifying is not cut off immediately. It can be removed within 18 months, with the last day announced by Trader Update. The exchange can shorten that to at least seven days' notice if activity in the class is very thin, and remove a class for any other reason with at least 30 days' notice. It can also remove a class immediately when it judges that necessary for investor protection or fair and orderly markets.

Expiring options get special treatment. Under Rule 901.2NY(i), an expiring eligible equity option keeps trading through the Late session, which the exchange links to American-style physical settlement: it lets participants close an expiring position instead of taking or delivering shares.

Which order types are allowed in NYSE American extended hours?

Every order must say which session or sessions it is for, and an order with no designation is rejected. An order designated for a later session is accepted but cannot trade until that session begins, and an order aimed only at a session that has already ended is rejected. Market orders are not allowed in either extended session and are rejected if designated for one.

The order lists a second group of order types that the exchange does not initially offer in the Early and Late sessions:

1. Good-'Til-Cancelled, Market-on-Open, Limit-on-Open and Imbalance Offset orders
2. Stop and stop limit orders
3. Complex, cross and CUBE orders
4. Reserve, GTX and BOLD-eligible orders

In practice, a plain limit order with a session designation is the main tool. The word "initially" matters here: the exchange wrote the list as a starting point, not as a permanent rule, so a later filing could change it.

Here is how it would look with a hypothetical stock. Suppose ABC options are on the exchange's list, and you enter a limit order to buy one ABC call at $2.40, designated for Early and Core. The exchange queues orders for both sessions from 6:00 a.m. The Early auction starts when any national securities exchange first publishes a two-sided quote or a trade in ABC shares after 7:30 a.m., and it does not depend on the stock's primary market, because some stocks do not trade there that early. The same order entered as a market order would be rejected, and so would a limit order with no session designation. If ABC were an ETF option that already trades until 4:15 p.m. in the Core session, you would not see a Late session at all. An ABC option expiring that Friday could be traded until 4:15 p.m. to close the position. This is an illustration of the rules in the order, not data from actual trading.

How is NYSE American different from Cboe and Nasdaq MRX?

The three exchanges use the same windows, 7:30–9:25 a.m. and 4:00–4:15 p.m. ET, and the same eligibility tests and 100-class limit. The differences are in the details. Cboe's rules also restrict market orders outside regular hours. Nasdaq MRX, approved on June 26, 2026, bars both market and stop orders in its early session but allows them during its 4:00–4:15 p.m. window, which NYSE American does not. At NYSE American, market orders are rejected in both sessions and stop orders are not initially offered in either.

NYSE American also differs in how it uses sessions. It requires a session designation on every order, and the Early auction starts from a quote or trade in any national exchange rather than the primary market. The SEC described the overall approach as largely harmonized with the frameworks already approved for Cboe and MRX, and the main departures it noted were NYSE American's own session names and the mandatory designation.

Participation is also optional on the supply side. Market makers and specialists are not required to quote in the extended sessions. If they do quote, their quoting time across all sessions is added together when the exchange checks their obligations. That makes thin early-morning books possible, which the exchange itself says to expect, along with wider spreads and lower liquidity.

When does NYSE American start extended-hours options trading?

The order does not give a start date. It says the first trading day and the first list of classes will be announced in a Trader Update, and the exchange committed not to launch until the SEC approves the OCC rule that lets the clearinghouse handle these products. That condition has since been met: the SEC approved OCC's rule on September 23, 2026, although that order itself names no launch dates for any exchange. OPRA, the options price feed, had also said it could support the sessions after a 30-day notice period.

The date comes from the exchange's own notice. In its September 18 Trader Update, NYSE said that effective Monday, October 19, 2026, NYSE American Options will introduce extended trading hours for eligible production symbols, pending regulatory effectiveness. The exchange scheduled industry tests for September 19 and October 17 and enabled two test symbols, NTEST and PTEST, in production from September 21. Because that notice still carries the "pending" condition and was published five days before the OCC approval, treat October 19 as the scheduled date and watch for any later exchange notice.

Two things remain for you to confirm. The first is the production class list, which the exchange points to its Extended Trading Hours Fact Sheet for; an earlier testing notice, for example, put SPY, QQQ, IWM, GLD and XLF in the Core session until 4:15 p.m. with no Late session, in line with the ETF rule above. The second is which brokers will let customers send orders into the sessions. The exchange's rules set what the venue accepts, not what a retail platform offers, so your own broker's hours, order types and eligibility can be narrower. The order also says the exchange expects lower liquidity and wider spreads, and it requires member firms to disclose risks such as lower liquidity, high volatility, unlinked markets and an exaggerated effect from news announcements before accepting a customer order for these sessions.

Alexander Styopin's professional view: the mandatory session designation is the detail most likely to catch traders out. An order that works in the Core session by default may not be eligible for the Early session, and an order meant for the Early session will not rest into the afternoon unless you say so. When these sessions begin, check the designation before the price, and expect to price from the live quote rather than the previous close, because early-morning option spreads can be far wider than they are at 9:35 a.m.

Educational material only. Not investment or legal advice. Trading hours, eligible option classes, and order handling can vary by exchange, broker, and account type.

Author: Alexander Styopin, hi2morrow analyst and economist with 25 years of experience in the US stock market