Nasdaq's Path to Round-the-Clock Trading: Building a 24/7 Trading Pattern

The traditional stock market operates within rigid time constraints: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time, five days a week. But Nasdaq is preparing to disrupt this century-old framework. According to an SEC filing in December 2025, the exchange plans to expand trading to 23 hours per day, a near-total transformation driven by changing investor expectations and the unrelenting demand for global market access. This shift signals a fundamental redrawing of how financial markets function—moving toward a 24/7 trading pattern that mirrors the always-on nature of cryptocurrency and digital asset markets.

The proposal reflects a broader industry recognition: in an interconnected world where Asia closes its markets just as North America wakes up, the boundaries of traditional trading hours have become barriers rather than features. Nasdaq is not acting alone—the New York Stock Exchange has already received SEC approval for its own extended hours, signaling that this transformation is no longer experimental but inevitable.

The 23-Hour Trading Schedule: How Nasdaq Plans Nearly Around-the-Clock Access

Under Nasdaq’s proposal, the new trading architecture would reshape the market calendar entirely. The day session would run from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, followed by a one-hour maintenance break, with a night session extending from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. ET the following day. Notably, trades executed between 9 p.m. and midnight would be recorded as trades for the following calendar day, maintaining regulatory clarity.

The trading week itself would begin on Sunday at 9 p.m. and close on Friday at 8 p.m. ET—a complete calendar inversion compared to today’s Monday-through-Friday pattern. Crucially, the iconic opening and closing bells at 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. would remain unchanged, preserving the symbolic anchor of traditional market hours while the market operates nearly continuously around them.

This structure would apply to stocks and exchange-traded products (ETPs), creating a hybrid system where the core market never truly sleeps. Such a framework would immediately benefit publicly traded cryptocurrency companies including Coinbase (COIN), Robinhood (HOOD), and Microstrategy (MSTR), along with numerous bitcoin mining firms whose business models are intrinsically linked to the perpetual nature of blockchain operations.

Cryptocurrency’s Influence: Why 24/7 Trading Patterns Are Reshaping Traditional Markets

The catalyst for this proposal sits squarely on blockchain ledgers. Cryptocurrencies trade 24/7/365—no weekends, no holidays, no closing bell. This always-on market structure has fundamentally altered investor expectations about what normal market access should look like. When a trader can transact bitcoin at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday, why should equities go dark?

Nasdaq acknowledged this dynamic explicitly in its SEC filing: “Investors are increasingly utilizing trading platforms that provide access to markets for digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, tokenized assets, and tokenized securities, on a 24/7 basis.” This statement cuts to the heart of competitive pressure. Traditional exchanges are not merely responding to regulatory demands—they are competing against the gravitational pull of markets that never close.

The geographic component amplifies this urgency. Extended trading hours particularly appeal to investors located in Asia and other foreign jurisdictions where U.S. business hours don’t align with their local calendars. An investor in Tokyo faces a fundamental constraint: when New York is open, Tokyo sleeps, and vice versa. A true 24/7 trading pattern eliminates this friction entirely, allowing seamless participation regardless of hemisphere.

Nasdaq’s head of U.S. equities and exchange-traded products, Giang Bui, articulated this vision plainly in March 2025: the shift to extended hours is “where the markets are moving.” The exchange wasn’t speculating about theoretical demand—it was already in regulatory discussions, signaling institutional confidence in this trajectory.

Global Investors and Asia’s Time Zone: The Case for Extended Trading Hours

The numbers tell a compelling story. Although trading volume during extended hours typically remains considerably lower than peak market hours, Nasdaq has documented “growing interest in trading during overnight hours, particularly among investors located in Asia and other foreign jurisdictions.” This isn’t speculation; it’s observed market behavior.

For institutional investors managing global portfolios, the current system creates artificial bottlenecks. A hedge fund with positions across three continents must execute trades in fragmented windows, accepting that some exposures remain unhedged during critical hours. Extended market access eliminates this vulnerability, enabling truly synchronized portfolio management across time zones.

The emergence of digital assets has normalized 24/7 trading in the institutional psyche. Firms that actively trade cryptocurrency futures already operate around-the-clock desk rotations. Extending this model to equities simply acknowledges operational reality: if your traders are already awake and active at midnight, why shouldn’t they be able to access the market?

Market Evolution: Nasdaq’s Strategy to Compete in a 24/7 Trading Landscape

Nasdaq’s filing makes the competitive calculus transparent: the exchange is filing “to compete for order flow from these investors, as well as to position itself favorably in the future to participate in markets that trade digital assets.” Translation: extended hours are a retention and acquisition tool.

The New York Stock Exchange’s recent SEC approval for after-hours expansion demonstrates the regulatory pathway is clear. Nasdaq is following suit, but with a more ambitious scope—23 hours represents a more comprehensive vision of market accessibility than traditional pre- and post-market sessions.

This shift also positions traditional exchanges for an inevitable evolution: the integration of tokenized securities and digital assets into mainstream trading infrastructure. By normalizing 24/7 operations now, Nasdaq creates the operational foundation for a future where traditional stocks, tokenized assets, and cryptocurrencies trade on unified platforms with seamless liquidity.

The Broader Meaning: When Markets Learn to Never Close

The transition to a 24/7 trading pattern isn’t merely about adding hours to the calendar—it represents a philosophical alignment between traditional finance and the continuously-operating nature of digital networks. Current trading volumes in extended hours sessions tend to be modest compared to core market hours, but the trajectory is what matters.

As investor expectations continue shifting, as geographic arbitrage drives global capital flow, and as the integration of digital assets accelerates, around-the-clock market access moves from novelty to necessity. Nasdaq’s proposal places the exchange at the forefront of this transformation, signaling to global investors that American markets are no longer bounded by history but responsive to how modern capital actually moves.

The market that never closes isn’t coming—for crypto markets, it’s already here. Traditional exchanges are simply deciding whether to join that reality.