SEC to hold Sept. 17 roundtable on 24-hour U.S. stock trading

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is set to host a public roundtable on Sept. 17 at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., with online streaming, to discuss preparations for 24-hour trading in U.S. equity markets. SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the market is moving toward "a new day – and night" as overnight trading expands, while the agency said discussions will cover market operations, system resilience and investor protection. The event comes as exchanges including Nasdaq and Cboe work toward longer weekday trading schedules, subject to regulatory approval and industry readiness. Nasdaq has said it aims to introduce 24-hour trading five days a week in the second half of 2026, while Cboe is preparing a near-continuous schedule on EDGX Equities from 9 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday to 8 p.m. on Friday, with a one-hour daily break. The London Stock Exchange is also developing a separate venue for near-continuous weekday trading, with client testing planned before the end of 2026 and a launch for exchange-traded products in the first half of 2027, pending regulatory approval. The SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets has signaled that broader overnight access would require coordination across market data, clearing, corporate actions, trade reporting and investor safeguards. The push reflects demand for round-the-clock access familiar to crypto markets, though tokenized equities remain distinct from shares listed and traded on national securities exchanges.