I just found out what time the Thai stock market actually opens—not just 10:00 a.m. like I thought. There’s a pre-open period starting from 9:30 a.m., when the system collects buy and sell orders to process and give a rough estimate of the opening price.

In fact, the exact opening time each day isn’t the same. There’s a random time between 9:55 and 10:00 a.m., when the system randomly selects the actual opening time to prevent price manipulation. This is the period when prices are most volatile, because there are pending orders carried over from the previous day, plus the morning news that affects each individual stock.

Another thing to know is that the Thai stock market opens in 2 sessions: the morning session from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., then the market pauses until 2:00 p.m. After that, the afternoon session runs from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., followed by a pre-close from 4:30 p.m. to 4:35 p.m., and then a random close from 4:35 p.m. to 4:40 p.m., when the market closes at a random time within that interval—just like that.

If you want to profit from stock speculation, you need to know what time the market opens, because that’s the best opportunity. Prices often move quickly and liquidity is high. Unlike currency trading, where trades can happen at any time, stocks can only be traded during market hours. If you miss the opening time, you might miss out on great opportunities. 💸