Earnings Report
A company’s scheduled quarterly disclosure of financial results.
Also called: earnings · quarterly results · earnings season
Written by Javier Sánchez Ros
In plain language
Earnings reports are released outside regular trading hours, so the market reprices the stock at the next open rather than gradually.
The move depends on results relative to expectations, plus forward guidance — which frequently matters more than the reported quarter.
Double-digit percentage gaps are routine. This is a scheduled, known event that regularly produces the largest single-day moves in a stock’s year.
Worked through
A 1% risk that becomes a 4.4% loss overnight
- Position
- 300 shares at $88.00
- Stop at $85.50
- planned loss $750
- Reopens at
- $77.00
- Actual loss
- $3,300
The stop was well placed and it was irrelevant. The report came out after the close, the stock reopened at $77, and the order filled there — $8.50 below the level it was set at, for four and a half times the intended loss.
Holding a position through an earnings release means accepting this in advance, because there is no order type that prevents it. The market is closed while the information arrives, and the first tradeable price is already on the other side of the move.
That leaves exactly one control, and it is position size. A trader who wants to hold through earnings has to size the position so that a plausible gap — 10%, 15% on a volatile name — is survivable, which usually means a much smaller position than the ordinary stop-based calculation produces.
The alternative is equally legitimate and often better: close before the release and reopen afterwards. The cost is a spread and a commission. The cost of the other choice is whatever the gap happens to be.
Why it matters
Holding through earnings means accepting that your stop may not protect you. A gap can open well past it, so position size, not stop distance, is your real control.
Common mistakes
- Holding a full-size position through earnings with a tight stop and assuming risk is capped.
- Not checking the earnings date before entering a swing trade.
- Assuming good results guarantee a higher price.
Keep exploring
These concepts are connected. Understanding one usually makes the next one easier.
A jump between one period’s close and the next period’s open with no trading in between.
A company’s net profit divided by its number of outstanding shares.
How much and how quickly an asset’s price moves over a given period.
The difference between the price you expected and the price you actually got.
Trading sessions before the open and after the close, with far less liquidity.