Opening and Closing Auctions

What are the opening and closing auctions?

The regular trading day starts and ends with an auction. Orders sent in for the 9:30 AM ET open are matched at a single price, the opening auction or opening cross, and the 4:00 PM close works the same way, setting the closing price that many funds use to value what they hold. Our Opening Auction and Closing Auction reports list the stocks we track that traded in each auction, with the auction price, the shares and dollars that crossed, and how that compares with the stock's usual auction size.

How we build the reports

• The auction price. The volume-weighted price of the trades reported in the auction. The Opening Auction report compares it with the previous trading day's close, adjusted for stock splits; the Closing Auction report compares it with the day's opening auction price.
• Relative Volume. The shares traded in the auction divided by the stock's average for the same auction over the previous 20 trading days. Both reports start sorted by it, highest first.
• Around the open. The Opening Auction report puts the open next to the premarket: premarket volume against its own 20-day average, the premarket's volume-weighted average price (VWAP), the VWAP of the last premarket minute, and the open's difference from each in dollars. Current Price and % Drift from Open show how far the stock has moved since the auction.
• Uptick or downtick. On the current day, the opening auction price against the last premarket minute at or after 9:25 AM with at least 1,000 shares traded; without one, against the whole premarket VWAP when at least 1,000 shares traded; otherwise against the previous close.
• Around the close. The Closing Auction report compares the auction price with the VWAP of the stock's last minute of regular trading, in dollars: above it is an up tick, below it a down tick. A stock is listed when it traded in both that day's opening and closing auctions.
• Which days. A date strip covers the latest five trading days, with how many stocks' auctions came in up or down. The Opening Auction report shows the previous trading day until shortly after the 9:30 AM open, and the Closing Auction report until shortly after the 4:00 PM close; on weekends and holidays both show the last trading day. The Opening Auction report reloads about every 6 minutes through the trading day, and the Closing Auction report about every 6 minutes from 2:00 PM into the early evening.

Auction prices and volumes show how orders met at the open and the close, not where a stock goes next. They are not buy or sell signals.

What you can find out

Where to find it

Menu: Stocks › Non-Regular Hours › Opening Auction or Closing Auction, or go straight to /Reports/StockOpeningAuctionReport and /Reports/StockClosingAuctionReport. Click a day on the date strip to switch days.

Members of any Premium plan see the full list with names, the volume and dollar totals on the date strip, and the filters: watchlist, ETF, stock type, market cap, relative volume and the price changes, and on the Opening Auction report also price, volume and premarket measures. Everyone else sees the top 20 rows for each day, with the symbol and company name hidden.

What each column means

FAQ

What is an opening or closing auction?

A single matching of the buy and sell orders sent in for the open or the close, at one price. The opening auction sets the first price of the regular session at 9:30 AM ET, and the closing auction the closing price at 4:00 PM.

Why does the Closing Auction report show yesterday during the day?

The closing auction happens at 4:00 PM ET, so until shortly after the close the report opens on the previous trading day. The other days on the date strip are a click away.

What does Relative Volume mean on these reports?

The shares traded in the auction divided by the stock's average for the same auction over the previous 20 trading days. A 3.0 means three times the usual auction size.

What do uptick and downtick mean here?

On the Opening Auction report, whether the open came in above or below the last premarket trading, shown for the current day. On the Closing Auction report, whether the closing auction price was above or below the VWAP of the stock's last minute of regular trading.

Are the auction reports free?

Everyone can open them and see the top 20 rows for each day, with the symbol and company name hidden. Members of any Premium plan see the full list with names and the volume and dollar totals on the date strip, and can use the filters.