Copying Crypto? New York Stock Exchange May Enable 24/7 Trading

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has released a survey questioning market participants about round-the-clock stock trading, signaling potential interest in opening its trading venue beyond traditional market hours.

The update would bring the stock exchange up to date with today’s major cryptocurrency exchanges, which operate at all hours including weekends.

All Hours Stock Trading On NYSE

According to the Financial Times, NYSE’s survey asked participants whether all-hours trading should also take place on the weekend, alongside how overnight sessions should be staffed, and how investors should be protected against large price swings.

It also asked if “time spent thinking about overnight trading would be better spent on regular market hour trading”.

The survey was put out by the NYSE’s data management team rather than its actual management, but highlights the growing interest in trading stock like Apple (AAPL) or NVIDIA (NVDA) during late night Eastern Time (ET) hours between 8:00 pm and 4:00 am.

Regular U.S. stock trading begins at 9:30 am ET, and ends at 4:00 pm ET for both the NYSE and Nasdaq. Both exchanges also offer “pre-market” training between 4:00 am ET and 9:30 am ET, alongside “after-market” trading between 4:00 pm ET and 8:00 pm ET, although these windows are susceptible to lower volume, lower liquidity, greater volatility, and higher spreads.

These limited trading hours have put U.S stock trading behind not only crypto, but also US treasuries, major currencies, and stock index futures – all of which can be traded at all hours from Monday to Friday.

Though certain venues like Robinhood do offer 24/5 stock trading, they’re often forced to conduct overnight trades with “dark pool” trading venues that interact with Asian markets. Unlike those venues, overnight NYSE trading would have better regulatory oversight thanks to direct supervision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

NYSE’s survey follows a recent SEC filing from start-up 24 Exchange (aka 24X), which seeks approval to launch the nation’s first all-hours stock exchange.

Implications for Bitcoin ETFs

Although Bitcoin (BTC) itself trades 24/7 globally, the newly launched Bitcoin spot ETFs launched by BlackRock, Fidelity, and others trade during regular stock market hours. Some of those funds, including the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), trade directly on the NYSE.

Should such ETFs start trading as consistently as cryptocurrencies on crypto native exchanges, it could impact Bitcoin’s trading patterns. For example, recent data from Kaiko suggests that Bitcoin’s weekend trading volume has dwindled to just 13% of total volume in 2024, in part due to Bitcoin ETFs being offline at those times.

According to Glassnode, roughly one-third of the total Bitcoin spot volume now trades via the Bitcoin ETFs.