trading session
Trading Session means the fixed block of hours on any given day when a stock exchange is open for buying and selling to actually happen.
In plain English
"Oga, why didn't my sell order go through this morning?" "Because you sent it at 8am. The market wasn't even open yet, my friend."
That exchange, between a young man in Yaba and his broker, captures the whole idea. A trading session is simply the window during which an exchange like the Nigerian Exchange, the NGX, is officially open for business. In Lagos, that window runs roughly from 10am to about 2:30pm on weekdays. Outside that window, you can place an order, but nothing actually happens until the session opens again.
It matters because prices only move while the session is live. Someone in London checking their Nigerian shares at midnight will see the exact same price they saw at 2:30pm, because nothing traded overnight. The London Stock Exchange itself has its own session, roughly 8am to 4:30pm, and the two never fully overlap, which is worth knowing if you are in the diaspora and watching both markets from one screen.
Within a session there are usually smaller stages. Many exchanges open with a brief pre market call auction to set a fair opening price, then move into continuous trading where buyers and sellers are matched all day, and sometimes close with another short auction to settle the final price. You do not need to memorise all of that, just know that the middle stretch is when most of the actual buying and selling happens.
Think of a trading session as a market day at Balogun market, but with a bell. The gates open, traders shout their prices, deals get done, and then the gates close and everyone goes home to wait for tomorrow.
A trader in Abuja wants to sell 500 units of a bank stock at ₦28 each. He places the order at 9:45am, before the NGX session opens at 10am. His broker holds the order and only sends it in once trading begins, so it actually executes at 10:03am when a buyer is found.
Questions people ask
Can I still buy or sell shares outside the trading session?
You can place an order with your broker at any time, but it simply waits until the next session opens. Nothing executes while the exchange is closed.
Do trading session hours differ between Nigeria and the United Kingdom?
Yes. The NGX typically runs from about 10am to 2:30pm Nigerian time, while the London Stock Exchange runs from about 8am to 4:30pm UK time, so overlap is limited if you follow both.
What happens if I place an order right when the session opens?
It joins the queue of orders being matched during the opening auction or early continuous trading, and gets executed once a suitable buyer or seller is found at an agreeable price.
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