Embracing Global Trading Hours: How 23/5 and 24/7 Are Reshaping Market Infrastructure and Trading Technology Needs

Traditional exchanges and venues are increasingly considering further expansion of trading hours to align with overarching market and investor trends. With 24-hour trading already available for cryptocurrencies and forex markets, the world’s biggest markets are announcing plans to support trading operations around the clock (or very nearly to it). Nasdaq has introduced its own initiative to support 23/5 operations.

As the financial industry prepares for a new era of continuous market access, modernizing market infrastructure becomes a strategic imperative. Around-the-clock trading brings a new set of operational considerations and impacts to the entire trading ecosystem. The question facing exchanges is how can they modernize their infrastructure to meet the demands of an always-on economy without compromising resilience and performance?

This article explores the drivers behind 24-hour trading, the challenges it presents and the critical role of trading technology and market infrastructure in enabling resilient, scalable, efficient and trusted markets.
 

Global trading hours refer to the expansion of market access to 23 or 24 hours a day, five or seven days a week. This continuous access facilitates more immediate execution for different investor audiences and efficient order management for brokers during all phases of the longer trading day, from pre-market to closing auction. While foreign exchange and cryptocurrency markets have operated on this model, equities and other traditional asset classes are now moving in the same direction.

Several converging trends are fueling the push toward extending trading hours:

• Global participation: Capital flows are increasingly international. U.S. markets have seen significant inflows from Asia since 2020. Extended hours allow investors across time zones to participate in real time, reducing operational friction and expanding access.
• Retail investor sophistication: The rise of zero-commission trading and intuitive platforms has empowered retail investors. These participants now expect the same flexibility and convenience they experience in other digital services.
• Crypto market influence: Cryptocurrency exchanges have normalized 24/7 trading. Their success has set a new benchmark for accessibility, prompting traditional exchanges to adapt.
• Infrastructure innovation: Advances in cloud computing, networking and trading platforms now make it technically feasible to support continuous trading with high availability and low latency.
• Real-world momentum: Nasdaq has launched a Global Trading Hours Initiative. Other global exchanges — including NYSE, HKEX, SGX, CME and JPX — have already previously incrementally expanded trading hours for various asset classes or are proposing continuou hours for the future.
   

The shift toward continuous trading brings with it a range of impacts, from the opportunities of more efficient markets to challenges of making the transition with minimal disruption to trading ecosystem.

• New participants: Longer trading hours can attract new participants and deepen market liquidity.
• Improved price discovery: Continuous trading allows markets to respond to news and events in real time, reducing information gaps.
• Competitive differentiation: Exchanges that offer extended hours can position themselves as innovators, attracting new listings and trading volumes.

Despite the upside, 24/7 trading introduces several complexities that market operators must solve for on a strategic, technological and organizational level:

• Trade lifecycle: Continuous trading impacts post-trade processes like settlement and reconciliation. Automation and real-time systems are essential to maintaining operational integrity.
• Legacy reliance: Aging and underinvested systems can be rigid and costly to upgrade. Assessing the full technology stack is requisite to initiating such a major operational transition such as 24/7.
• Market infrastructure: Platforms must be resilient, flexible and adaptable, with cloud-enabled processing and data management central to handling unpredictable volumes (especially overnight).

To support continuous trading, exchanges must modernize their technology stacks and infrastructure. Key capabilities include:

• High-performance matching engines: Matching engines must process high volumes and diverse order types with ultra-low latency and constant uptime. Architectures should support horizontal scaling and automated failover to ensure consistent performance.
• Cloud-enabled infrastructure: Cloud infrastructure empowers exchanges to scale efficiently, enhance resilience and extend global reach, while optimizing costs and supporting continuous, high-performance trading.
• Advanced data management and AI: Data volumes are surging and will continue to do so in the 24-hour era. Exchanges need modern data lakes, real-time analytics and AI-driven insights to monitor market behavior, automate workflows and enhance decision-making.
• Managed Services and flexibility: Purpose-built SaaS platforms can reduce operational complexity by allowing exchanges to focus on innovation. Unloading the heavy lifting to a strategic partner can unlock new scale and cost advantages.
• Market surveillance: To maintain adequate oversight, market surveillance tools must be extended to overnight hours with the same rigor as daytime. Automation and AI can help ensure manipulation and abuse is identified and rooted out.
   

Transitioning to continuous trading environments demands significant modernization and organizational change management. Exchanges must realign their workforce by implementing new talent management models that prioritize ongoing training and prevent burnout. Successful transitions will also rely on engaging internal champions and forming cross-functional task forces to drive buy-in and ensure strategic alignment. As technology, regulations and markets evolve, organizations need to adopt a culture of continuous improvement, adapting strategies to stay ahead in a dynamic landscape.

In addition, surveillance and teams play a critical role in preserving market integrity and protecting against manipulation threats during offpeak and North America overnight hours. Integrity and fairness must be buttressed concurrently with the lengthening of the trading day.

Preparing for continuous trading is not a one-size-fits-all journey, as each asset class and region has unique requirements. Nevertheless, certain core principles are universally applicable: investing in scalable, cloud-native infrastructure and resilient networks is essential for real-time processing. Post-trade systems—including clearing, settlement, and risk management—must also be modernized to operate without interruption. Finally, leveraging AI-powered tools for surveillance and compliance, and fostering strong collaboration among industry peers, regulators, and vendors, are vital steps for exchanges aiming to thrive in an always-on market.
 

The shift to continuous trading hours is already underway. Exchanges that approach this transformation with the right technology, infrastructure and strategy  will be positioned to grow markets, attract new participants while retaining existing ones, and lead into the next generation of capital markets.

Nasdaq Eqlipse Trading is at the forefront of this evolution, offering a purpose-built, cloud-enabled platform that infrastructures can adopt to support overnight, 24-hour models. With proven performance, flexible deployment, and integrated surveillance and data intelligence, Nasdaq is helping exchanges modernize for the always-on economy.
 

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