U.S. regulators approved the nation’s first 24-hour stock exchange on Wednesday, marking a significant shift in American securities trading as retail investors increasingly demand round-the-clock market access.
What Happened: The Securities and Exchange Commission granted approval to 24 Exchange, backed by Steve Cohen‘s Point72 Ventures, following the startup’s second application attempt.
The approval comes amid growing momentum for extended trading hours, with Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE:SCHW) recently announcing plans to expand 24-hour trading access to all S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 stocks by 2025.
The exchange will launch in two phases, beginning with regular trading hours before expanding to overnight sessions between Sunday and Friday. A one-hour operational pause will occur during each trading day to accommodate routine software upgrades and functionality testing.
This development follows Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD) offering 24-hour trading of more than 1,000 tickers and NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (NYSE:ICE) filing to extend NYSE Arca trading to 22 hours daily.
Why It Matters: “Traders are most at-risk when the market is closed in their geographic location,” said Dmitri Galinov, CEO and founder of 24X. “We will seek to alleviate this problem by facilitating around-the-clock U.S. equities trading.”
The approval represents a significant evolution from traditional stock trading hours, bringing equity markets closer to the continuous trading seen in cryptocurrencies and foreign exchange markets.
The move comes after 24 Exchange’s strategic pivot from cryptocurrency trading in 2023 when it discontinued its spot crypto product amid regulatory pressures and declining interest following the FTX collapse.
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