At The Bell

At the bell refers to the traditional opening or closing of a stock exchange. Many stock exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange, use an actual bell (hence the term: at the bell) to announce the traditional beginning and ending of the trading day. Some investors use at the bell market orders to indicate that they wish to buy or sell a security as the market opens -- at the bell or that they wish to take a position or off-set a position at the final price of the day -- at the bell. At the bell is a term which is slowly losing meaning since many markets now trade before the opening bell and past the closing bell. Nevertheless, at the bell market orders remain common for many investors.