Nasdaq is preparing to file paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to enable nearly 24-hour trading, aiming to match the increasingly global nature of financial markets and investor behavior, Reuters reported on Monday.
According to the proposal, Nasdaq will extend the opening hours for stocks and exchange-traded products (ETPs) from 16 hours to 23 hours a day, five days a week. The new schedule will include a day session from 4:00 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, followed by a one-hour break and then an overnight session running from 21.00 to 4 a.m. ET the following day. The trading week would begin on Sunday at 21.00 and close on Friday at 20.00, with the existing opening and closing times at 9.30 and at 4pm unchanged, Reuters said.
A representative for Nasdaq confirmed the proposal to CoinDesk.
Most public crypto companies trade on the Nasdaq exchange, including Coinbase (COIN), Robinhood (HOOD), and Strategy (MSTR), as well as many bitcoin mining companies, making these stocks more accessible to traders around the globe.
“There’s been this trend toward globalization for some time, and we’ve seen the U.S. markets themselves become much more global,” Chuck Mack, senior vice president of North American markets at Nasdaq, told Reuters.
The move follows earlier indications from both Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) that extended business hours were under consideration. Nasdaq’s Giang Bui, head of U.S. equities and exchange-traded products, said in March that this shift is “where the markets are moving.” She also noted that Nasdaq had already been in discussions with regulators at the time, while the NYSE has since received SEC approval for its own after-hours expansion.
Currently, US stock markets operate from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM ET, with limited pre- and post-market sessions. In contrast, cryptocurrencies trade 24/7, a dynamic that may have reshaped expectations among investors.
“There are a number of US brokers that already offer overnight trading because their clients are used to trading crypto during those hours,” Bui said in March.
Transactions carried out between 9 p.m. and midnight during the overnight session will count toward the following calendar day, Nasdaq said. The new structure will enable wider access to US markets across multiple time zones and could appeal to institutional and retail traders active in global or cryptocurrency markets.
The SEC filing is expected soon, according to the report.
