Always-on cryptocurrency trading has influenced investor expectations, with Nasdaq acknowledging that many of its clients are already active overnight.
Nasdaq is preparing to file paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to enable nearly round-the-clock trading, aiming to match the increasingly global nature of financial markets and investor behavior, Reuters reported Monday.
Under the proposal, Nasdaq would expand trading hours for stocks and exchange-traded products (ETPs) from 16 hours to 23 hours per day, five days a week. The new schedule would include a day session from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, followed by a one-hour break, and then a night session running from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. ET the following day. The trading week would begin on Sunday at 9 p.m. and close on Friday at 8 p.m., with the existing opening and closing bells at 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. remaining unchanged, Reuters said.
Most public crypto companies trade on Nasdaq’s exchange, including Coinbase (COIN), Robinhood (HOOD), and Strategy (MSTR), as well as many bitcoin mining companies, making those stocks more accessible to traders across the globe.
“There’s been this trend towards 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 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, U.S. stock markets operate from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET, with limited pre- and post-market sessions. In contrast, cryptocurrencies trade 24/7, a dynamic that may have reshaped expectations among investors. “There’s a number of U.S. brokers that already are offering overnight trading because their customers are used to trading crypto in those hours,” Bui said in March.
Trades executed between 9 p.m. and midnight during the night session will count toward the following calendar day, Nasdaq said. The new structure would allow for broader access to U.S. markets across time zones and could appeal to institutional and retail traders active in global or crypto markets.
The SEC filing is expected soon, according to the report. A representative for Nasdaq could not be reached for comment.
