# The open, the close and foreign hours > Learn how the opening minutes, foreign market hours and rough market days change what an ETF trade costs, with real dated ETF data. Data as of Nov 10, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night. ## The open, the close and foreign hours: how timing changes your price Data as of Nov 10, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night. On 95% of the 251 trading days to Nov 10, 2026 , EWJ closed within 0.68% of its NAV, against 0.06% for SPY. Trading Basics · Lesson 6 of 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Slide the amount to see each fund's usual gap to NAV in dollars. Amount (hypothetical) $10,000 On $10,000: SPY usual gap $6, EWJ usual gap $68, TINY normal day $47, TINY rough day $107. Hypothetical amounts. Gaps to NAV to Nov 10, 2026. Step 1: the open on a fast day. On Aug 24, 2015 ( lesson 2 ), SPY opened 5.2% below the day before's close, was 7.8% down by 9:35 a.m., and closed down 4.2% . For a holding worth $10,000 at the prior close: Sold at 9:35: $10,000 × (1 − 0.078) = $9,220 Sold at the close: $10,000 × (1 − 0.042) = $9,580 $360 apart, same fund, same day. Step 2: holdings that trade abroad. EWJ holds Japanese stocks. Tokyo's market closes hours before New York opens, so EWJ's NAV ( lesson 1 ) rests on prices that are hours old by the time New York trades. Its market price moves with the news since. On Nov 10, 2026 , EWJ closed 0.11% above its NAV. On most days (95% of the 251 to then) it closed within 0.68% of its NAV, above or below; SPY, whose holdings trade in New York, within 0.06% . On $10,000: EWJ's usual gap is up to $10,000 × 0.0068 = $68 ; SPY's, $6 . Much of EWJ's gap comes from an out-of-date NAV, not a mispriced fund. Step 3: rough days. ETFIQ checks each fund's gap to NAV on the S&P 500's 10 worst days of the year. For TINY, the median gap was 1.07% on those days against 0.47% on the other 240 . On $10,000: $107 against $47 , about 2.3 times wider. By ETFIQ's measure, SPY's gap on those days was no wider than usual. ### The question Does it matter when during the day I place a trade? ### The idea - This lesson describes trading conditions, not when to buy or sell. - US exchanges trade from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern time . Market makers ( lesson 3 ) price each ETF from what it holds. When they can see that value clearly, the spread is narrow. When they can't, it widens. - Three times when the holdings' value is hard to see: - The first minutes after the open, before every holding has traded. ETF spreads are usually widest then, and in the last minutes before the close. - When the holdings trade abroad, on markets closed during New York hours. - Rough market days, when prices move fast. ### Worked example The 3 steps beside the drawing at the top work this through on ETFIQ data. Point at a step to light the part of the drawing it describes. ### The common mistake "The price at 9:31 is as good as the price at noon." In the first minutes many holdings have not traded, so quotes are wider. For a fund whose holdings trade in a closed market, the NAV you see is hours old all day. A limit order ( lesson 2 ) sets the worst price you'll accept. ### Check your understanding Pick an answer to see why. Two of three right passes the lesson. 1. When are ETF spreads usually widest? A In the first minutes after the open and the last before the close B In the middle of the day C They are the same all day D Only after 4:00 p.m. Answer: A. In the first minutes after the open and the last before the close. at the open, not every holding has a fresh price, so quotes are wider. Not B: midday, holdings are trading and prices are clearest. 2. A fund holds only European stocks, whose markets close in the late morning, New York time. Big news hits European companies at 2 p.m. New York time. What happens? A The ETF's price moves, while its NAV still reflects the morning's closing prices B The ETF cannot trade until Europe reopens C The NAV updates the moment the news hits D Nothing, because the holdings did not trade Answer: A. The ETF's price moves, while its NAV still reflects the morning's closing prices. the ETF keeps trading in New York; the NAV waits for Europe's next close, so a premium or discount appears. Not B: the ETF trades on a US exchange in US hours, whatever its holdings' markets do. 3. On Aug 24, 2015, SPY was 7.8% down at 9:35 a.m. and closed 4.2% down. On a $10,000 holding, how far apart were those two sale prices? A $78 B $360 C $420 D $780 Answer: B. $360. 7.8% − 4.2% = 3.6 percentage points, and $10,000 × 0.036 = $360. Not C: $420 is the day's whole loss at the close, not the gap between the two times. ### Takeaways - The opening minutes, closed foreign markets and rough days make an ETF's price harder to read. - For a fund holding foreign stocks, a gap to NAV is partly an out-of-date NAV; its Trading tab shows how wide it runs. ### Do it on ETFIQ See your fund's trading conditions Your fund ### Where to next --- Source: ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices. Cite: ETFIQ, The open, the close and foreign hours: how timing changes your price, data as of Nov 10, 2026. https://etfiq.com/academy/trading-basics/when-etfs-trade/ Licence: https://etfiq.com/license/ Data ETFIQ computes is free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms. HTML: https://etfiq.com/academy/trading-basics/when-etfs-trade/