Investing in the US share market from Australia

A lot more companies and funds to invest in

For starters, you’ve got access to over 9,000 companies and ETFs across three US exchanges on Sharesies: 

• New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

• Nasdaq

• Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE).

That’s in addition to the over 2,200 Australian companies and funds that Sharesies makes available on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

To compare the size of these markets, you can look at their total market cap. Market cap is how much an exchange is worth in total. In this case, it’s the total value of all the shares issued for all the investments on each exchange.

The market cap of the ASX is about $3.26 trillion AUD (as at June 2026). Compare that to the $32 trillion USD market cap of the NYSE (the largest stock exchange in the world). That makes the NYSE roughly 10 times larger than the ASX!

US share markets also tend to be more liquid than the smaller ASX. This means it’s typically easier—and quicker—for shares to be bought and sold as the buy price is close to the sell price. Both the ease and speed of trading—and the larger market size—open up more opportunities for you to diversify your portfolio. 

Different time zones, different opening hours

US share markets are open weekdays 9:30 AM to 4 PM Eastern Time—that’s in the US, not Aussie—and are closed on major US holidays. 

In Australia, that’s during the early morning hours of Tuesday through Saturday. So unless you’re a night owl, you’re likely to be sound asleep when US share markets open! 

Daylight savings in both countries shifts the opening hours’ window too. Throughout the year, US share market opening hours in Australia are:

Early April – early October

• NSW, VIC, QLD, TAS, ACT – 11:30 PM until 6:00 AM AEST

• SA, NT – 11:00 PM until 5:30 AM ACST

• WA – 9:30 PM until 4:00 AM AWST

Early October – early April

• NSW, VIC, TAS, ACT – 1:30 AM until 8:00 AM ADST

• SA – 1:00 AM until 7:30 AM ACDT

• QLD – 12:30 AM until 7:00 AM AEST

• NT – 12:00 AM until 6:30 AM ACST

• WA – 10:30 PM until 5:00 AM AWST

There are some ‘in-between’ periods where Australia has already changed to daylight savings, but the US haven’t (and vice versa) so these times may differ slightly. The good news is you don’t need to commit them to memory! You can see the exchange's opening hours for the week ahead when you look at an investment in Sharesies. 

Investing outside of market hours

So how do you go about placing orders for US shares? Thankfully, you don’t need to set an alarm for the middle of the night. With Sharesies, there are ways you can trade outside of hours. 

Place your order as usual

You can place an order at any time, and it’ll go to market when it opens. This is the same as placing AU orders if you’re trading outside of market hours.

When you place your order, you can choose to make a market order or a limit order. 

Market orders

A market order lets you buy or sell shares at the available market price in line with our Best Price Policy. 

Market orders are typically used when you want an order processed quickly and you’re willing to let the market decide the price.

Limit orders

To have more control over the amount you buy or sell shares for, you can place a limit order.

• Buy limit orders lets you set the maximum price that you’re willing to pay for a share.

• Sell limit orders lets you set the minimum price you’re willing to sell at. 

A limit order placed during core market hours will wait for up to 30 days on the market. It might not get filled if the market doesn’t reach the price you’ve set, or if there are other orders ahead of yours in the queue.

When investing in US shares, you can’t place a limit order for fractional shares—only whole shares can be bought and sold when placing a limit order for US shares.

US share prices are likely to shift while you’re sleeping. To set a price you’re comfortable with (rather than leaving it to the market to decide) you might choose to place a limit order instead of a market order. That way, you can have peace of mind that you’re not buying shares for too high a price—or selling for too low a price!

Opt in to 24/5 trading

You can enable US extended hours, which means you’ll be able to invest in US shares almost around the clock, five days a week–from 8:00 PM Sunday to 8:00 PM Friday (US Eastern Time).

Depending on what state you live in in Australia, that’s from late morning Monday, right through to late morning on Saturday.

This round-the-clock trading is made up of a few sessions. 

• Overnight: 11:00 AM until 7:00 PM AEST

• Pre-market: 7:00 PM until 12:30 AM AEST

• Core: 12:30 AM until 7:00 AM AEST

• Post-market: 7:00 AM until 11:00 AM AEST

There are a few things to know about 24/5 trading, as it’s not the same as trading on the market during core hours.

During the overnight session, you can only place limit orders. However, you’re free to still place both market and limit orders during pre- and post-market sessions.

If your overnight limit order isn’t filled, it will roll into pre-market, and potentially core and post-market sessions. If the order hasn’t been filled by the time the next overnight session starts, it will be cancelled.

Risks of 24/5 trading

There are a few things to know about 24/5 trading, as it’s not the same as investing in the market during core hours.

Lower liquidity

Some investments might have lower trading volumes outside of core market hours, which means that your order may take longer to fill, may only partially fill, or may not fill at all.

Higher price volatility

Some investments might experience greater ups and downs in price outside of hours compared to regular US market hours.

Price changes

The prices of investments outside of regular US hours might not reflect the prices either at the start (or end) of core hours, or when the market opens the next trading day. This means you might get a different price for an order that fills outside of hours compared to regular US market hours.

Announcements and financial info releases

Announcements (or a release of financial info) that might affect an investment’s price are often made outside of regular US trading hours. When combined with lower liquidity and higher volatility, this might cause extreme, potentially rapid movements in the price of an investment.

You can learn more about 24/5 trading on the DriveWealth website:

• Extended Hours Trading Disclosure

• Overnight Trading Disclosure

Currency movements can affect your returns

US shares are bought and sold in US dollars. While investing always involves risk, investing in shares in another currency exposes you to the added risk of currency fluctuations. For example, if:

• the AU dollar loses value against the US dollar, the AU dollar value of your US shares will go up

• the AU dollar gains value against the US dollar, the AU dollar value of your US shares will go down.

This assumes that the share price stays the same, and it’s just the value of the currency that’s changing.

Exchange rates between currencies are constantly moving up and down. This is based on the supply and demand for each currency, which can be influenced by many things, including inflation, interest rates, and a country’s economic performance and growth. When you turn one currency into another currency, this is called foreign exchange.

Currency fluctuations can impact returns by raising or lowering gains and losses. Diversifying your investments is one way that you can manage the risk of currency fluctuations across your wider investment portfolio.

Wrap up

While there’s some key differences to look out for with US markets, the basic principles remain the same. Consider investment techniques, such as  dollar-cost averaging, to help manage your risk, be prepared for the market’s ups and downs, and keep a well-diversified portfolio.