I was wondering what the earliest you can enter a position is and does it depend on the future you're trading ?

For instance, can you enter a new position on say the ES at 4:00 p.m. cst. ?
I know that the ES trades up until 3:15 p.m. cst. , with a 45 minute daily maintenance break ( from 3:15 - 4:00 p.m. )

So as long as I close out of the trade by 3:15 .... could I then re-enter into an all new position at 4:00 p.m. and still only incur the Intraday margin requirement ( $500 intraday for NinjaTrader ) vs the Initial margin ( overnight ) of $5,060 ?



I trade off of longer timeframe charts ( the Daily , weekly and monthly ) , and so I base my entries after the close of the normal trading hours.

Just want to make sure that what I am hoping to achieve , is achievable

Thanks for the help

Futures trading begins 6PM Eastern on Sundays and ends 5:15PM on Friday.

I believe all futures are halted from trading between 5:15PM-6:00PM each day.

/ES I know is halted from 4:15PM-4:30PM each day.

Any other hour is fine to trade.