gold finger
The U.S. OTC markets are usually open past the Canadian closes. In the past there was always a stray order or two coming in after 4:00 PM when I was running the wire for E.F. Hutton in Universal City years ago. The old Pacific Stock Exchange was open until 5:30 PM NYC time.
In the after hours trading the big traders are not present and are usually represented by young traders who have instructions, basically, not to tie up money over night because of interest charges. So for this reason, unless there is a retail order present, buying and selling will be in a wider range.
Years ago margin calls were based on Friday's closes. A margin customer has to maintain a certain percentage of his equity in the account or he gets called for more money Monday morning. Years ago you couldn't margin anything under $5. Today, I believe, that it is lower.
Another reason why stock prices more around after the primary markets are closed is because of the unregulated hedge funds. Some of these guys are just plainly bad news for investors. I have been told that they suppress prices of low priced stocks. I can see this happening daily on many many Canadian traded issues. These guys might have in total about 2.1 trillion dollars. If a few of them gang up on a low priced stock it makes it difficult for investors like ourselves or long based traders to get a fair shake. I see it happening all the time in US markets after the close. They basically manipulate after hours prices in favor of their positions so their losses are reduced or their profits expanded.
The hedge funds are not regulated and thus can get away with fraud in manipulating prices and in selling shares they don't have and have no intention on delivering. It's sad but it is the truth. I have contacted my US senator and she, in my opinion from inaction, doesn't really care. This is part of the reason why there are more US citizens moving north and elsewhere.
It is a fact that in the US some hedge funds have sold short more than the outstanding shares issued by the company. Their sales result in Failure To Deliver(FTD's). Basically, they are putting in sell orders that do not represent stock in hand or borrowed stock. When you hear of hedge fund managers making $500 million each year some of their profits come by ganging up and beating down low priced shares.
