Remember when the stock market had business hours? Those quaint 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. days are about to get a serious upgrade. Nasdaq just announced it’s gunning for 24-hour trading, five days a week—basically turning the market into a 24/5 operation that would make a Las Vegas casino jealous.
Here’s the pitch: Nasdaq President Tal Cohen says the company’s been chatting with regulators and market players about this whole “never close” concept. They’re filing papers with the SEC soon, with a target launch in the second half of 2026. So yeah, we’re talking about trading at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday if you’re feeling particularly ambitious (or caffeinated).
Why Now? Global Money Wants In
The real story here is international investors. Foreign holdings of U.S. equities have nearly doubled since 2019—we’re talking $17 trillion as of mid-2024. That’s a lot of people in different time zones who currently have to wait for the U.S. market to wake up. With 24-hour trading, a Tokyo investor could trade Apple stock at midnight their time instead of waiting until evening. It’s basically removing the velvet rope.
Cohen points out that 98% of new Nasdaq 100 ETFs launched in the last five years came from outside the U.S. Foreign investors love American markets—the regulatory framework, the tech sector, the healthcare opportunities. Extended hours would be catnip for them.
But Here’s the Catch
Nothing’s ever simple in finance. Lower liquidity during overnight hours means higher volatility and fatter transaction costs. Translation: trading at 3 a.m. might be possible, but it could get expensive and choppy.
Plus, corporate executives are nervous. A Nasdaq survey found that roughly half of listed companies have reservations about this. They’re worried about liquidity and corporate actions getting messy when the market’s supposed to be closed.
Then there’s the tech nightmare: U.S. markets process millions of messages per second. Adding 24-hour operations means coordinating across the entire industry—testing, planning, infrastructure upgrades. It’s not impossible, but it’s definitely complicated.
The Bottom Line
NYSE already filed for 22-hour trading on NYSE Arca last fall, so Nasdaq’s move isn’t totally out of left field. The question isn’t whether we can build a 24/5 market—it’s whether we should, and how to do it without breaking everything. Cohen’s confident they can pull it off. We’ll find out if he’s right when the SEC weighs in.
