I'm a little confused at what times are allowed for intraday trading the ES.

CME lists the trading hours as such: CME Globex: Sunday - Friday 6:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) with trading halt 4:15 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

I had an account with Ninjatrader and was told that I wasn't allowed to trade after the 4:15 (Eastern Time) close until -- if I recall correctly -- 6:45pm. The reason given was that there was a legality for what makes one more than an intraday trader, and if I traded before that time, I'd need to have the regular maintenance margin. I've not seen any rule anywhere online.

Now I'm at another broker. Spoke to one of their people and was told to exit trades at 3:55pm. Spoke to another and he simply gave me the CME link, which shows I could trade until 5pm (?) but there is a halt between 4:15 and 4:30.

So do I need to be totally out of ES at 4:15pm ET? When can I start trading again and not have any rule classifying me as an overnight holder?

Many thanks in advance!

Here is the response I got from NinjaTrader:

Quoting 

Thank you for your inquiry. The intraday margins for all CME products are able to be used from 5:00pm CST until 3:45pm CST the next day. Initial margin is what you would need to hold a contract through the overnight session (3:45pm CST — 5:00pm CST). The maintenance margin is what you would need to hold that same contract into a second overnight session.

Your broker may be different. What I posted above only applies to NinjaTrader brokerage clients.

TradingOgre 

Here is the response I got from NinjaTrader: Your broker may be different. What I posted above only applies to NinjaTrader brokerage clients.

Thanks! I'll check with AMP again and will use the info from NT to help clarify what I'm asking.

Every broker makes up those hours. Most call "day" margin anything but the 1 hour CME is closed. Interactive Brokers is the most conservative using 9:30 to 4.