Will ‘Clocking Off’ Become a Distant Memory for Traders?
By Paul Golden
AI summary of the source article
Financial exchanges and retail brokers are accelerating efforts to offer continuous round-the-clock trading. CME Group transitioned its crypto futures and options to continuous trading, generating $1 billion in weekend volume in its first six weekends. Concurrently, retail broker Robinhood is planning 24/7 trading for selected equities alongside Saturday trading. However, the SEC reports that overnight equity trading still accounts for under 1% of total NMS stock volume, characterized by wider spreads, lower liquidity, and concentrated activity in volatile assets and leveraged ETFs. Regulators including the SEC have expressed supervision concerns, even as they approve framework adjustments for extended-hours market data and price bands.
Why it matters
Expanding trading hours alters market structure, allowing participants to hedge risk continuously but exposing traders to thinner liquidity, wider spreads, and heightened overnight volatility.
Key facts
- CME Group generated $1 billion in crypto futures and options volume across its first six weekends of continuous trading.
- The SEC found August overnight equity average daily volume dropped to 144.6 million shares ($7.4 billion), accounting for less than 1% of total NMS stock trading.
- Robinhood reported August equity notional volume of $335 billion, up 68% year-on-year, as it prepares to launch 24/7 equity trading.