Nasdaq plans to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday local time to launch 24-hour stock trading, hoping to capitalize on global demand for U.S. stocks.
Investor demand for round-the-clock trading on U.S. stocks has surged in recent years, prompting regulators to introduce new rules and major exchanges to propose proposals to allow trading outside regular trading hours. The U.S. stock market accounts for nearly two-thirds of the world's market capitalization of listed companies, while foreign holdings of U.S. stocks totaled $17 trillion last year, according to data compiled by Nasdaq.
Nasdaq's SEC filing will mark the company's first official step toward launching all-day trading five days a week. Nasdaq President Tal Cohen said in March this year that it had begun discussions with regulators and expected to launch five days a week of non-stop trading in the second half of 2026. The New York Stock Exchange and Cboe Global Markets also recently announced plans to launch 24-hour stock trading.
"This globalization trend has been going on for some time, and we've seen the U.S. market itself become more global," said Chuck Mack, senior vice president of North American markets at Nasdaq.
Two trading sessions per day
Nasdaq plans to extend trading hours for stocks and exchange-traded products from 16 hours to 23 hours, five days a week. Currently, Nasdaq has three trading sessions per day on weekdays: a pre-market trading session from 4 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. ET, a regular trading session from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and an after-market trading session from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. When Nasdaq operates 23 hours a day, five days a week, it plans to split it into two trading sessions, with day trading beginning at 4 a.m. ET and ending at 8 p.m. ET, followed by a one-hour break for maintenance, testing and trade clearing. The night trading session will start at 9pm and end at 4am the next day.
Day trading sessions will continue to include pre-market, regular and after-market trading hours and will open at 9:30 a.m. and close at 4 p.m. During the night trading session, trades executed between 9pm and 12am will be considered trades for the next day.
Under the new plan, the trading week will start at 9pm every Sunday and end at 8pm on Friday.
The successful rollout of 24-hour trading depends on upgrades to securities information processors that display the most accurate stock quotes on U.S. exchanges. As a central clearing center, U.S. Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. plans to launch uninterrupted stock clearing services by the end of 2026.
Supporters of wider 24-hour trading argue it would allow investors, especially those outside the United States, to react more quickly to situations that occur outside of normal trading hours. However, major Wall Street banks are wary of pushing for around-the-clock trading, citing concerns about reduced liquidity, heightened volatility and uncertainty about investment returns.
"Your own conditions, your own time zone"
Chuck Marks, senior vice president of North American markets at Nasdaq, said that while trading volumes during extended trading hours are typically much lower than during regular trading hours, demand for overnight trading has been strong in the U.S. market. Investors who want to trade around the clock currently rely on OTC venues or alternative trading systems such as Blue Ocean, Bruce ATS and OTC Moon.
"We're seeing these factors play out in the U.S. stock market, with increased demand for Nasdaq-listed companies outside the U.S., much more now than in the past," Marks said. "If you think about investors around the world, they want to access this huge market on their own terms, and they want to do it in their own time zone."
Trading on major stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange dates back more than a century, when trading was done by brokers placing orders in person on the trading floor and taking written instructions. While most stock trading is now done electronically, trading hours on most U.S. exchanges have remained largely unchanged for decades.