Nasdaq is preparing to file documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to enable near-round-the-clock trading, in a bid to adapt to the increasingly global nature of financial markets and investor behavior, Reuters reported on Monday.
Under the proposal, Nasdaq would extend trading hours for stocks and exchange-traded products (ETPs) from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. per day, five days per week. The new schedule would include a day session from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, followed by a one-hour break, then a night session from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. ET the next day. The trading week would begin at 9 p.m. on Sunday and end at 8 p.m. on Friday, with the existing opening and closing bells at 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. remaining unchanged, Reuters said.
A Nasdaq representative confirmed the proposal to CoinDesk.
Most public crypto companies trade on the Nasdaq exchange, including Coinbase (COIN), Robinhood (HOOD), and Strategy (MSTR), as well as many bitcoin mining companies, making these stocks more accessible to traders around the world.
“There has been a trend toward globalization for some time and we have seen the U.S. markets themselves become much more global,” Chuck Mack, senior vice president of North American markets at Nasdaq, told Reuters.
The move follows earlier indications from Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) that extended hours were being explored. Nasdaq’s Giang Bui, head of U.S. equities and exchange-traded products, said in March that the shift was “the direction the markets are moving.” She also noted that Nasdaq was already in discussions with regulators at the time, while the NYSE has since received SEC approval for its own after-hours expansion.
Currently, U.S. stock markets operate from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET, with limited pre- and post-market sessions. In contrast, cryptocurrencies trade 24/7, a dynamic that may have reshaped investor expectations.
“A number of U.S. brokers already offer day-to-day trading because their clients are used to trading cryptocurrencies at those times,” Bui said in March.
Trades executed between 9 p.m. and midnight during the overnight session will be considered for the following calendar day, Nasdaq said. The new structure would allow broader access to U.S. markets across multiple time zones and could attract institutional and retail traders active in global or cryptocurrency markets.
The SEC filing is expected soon, according to the report.
