U.S. stock trading welcomes a historic change! Nasdaq (NDAQ.US) has submitted an application to introduce "24/7 trading" starting in 2026, with trading available every weekday for five days.

As the listing location for technology giants such as NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US), Apple Inc. (AAPL.US), Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US), and one of the world's largest stock exchanges, Nasdaq (NDAQ.US) plans to submit a file to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday local time to apply for the launch of 24/7 trading services for stocks to meet the strong demand for U.S. stocks in global markets. In recent years, there has been a surge in demand from investors for uninterrupted trading of U.S. stocks, prompting regulatory agencies to introduce new regulations and approve proposals from multiple mainstream exchanges to extend trading hours. Data provided by Nasdaq shows that the market value of U.S. stocks accounts for about two-thirds of the total market value of listed companies globally, with foreign investors holding a total of $17 trillion in U.S. stocks as of last year. The submission of the SEC file marks the official launch of the process to introduce 24/7 trading on all five days of the week by Nasdaq. In March of this year, Nasdaq President Tal Cohen stated that the exchange had begun discussions with regulatory agencies and was expected to launch uninterrupted trading services on all five days by the second half of 2026. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Cboe Global Markets Inc (CBOE.US) have also recently announced similar plans for 24/7 trading of stocks. Chuck Mack, Senior Vice President of Nasdaq North American Markets, stated in an interview, "The trend towards globalization has been ongoing for some time, and the U.S. market itself has become increasingly global." Daily Two Trading Periods According to the plan, Nasdaq will extend the daily trading hours for stocks and exchange-traded products (ETPs) from the current 16 hours to 23 hours, operating five days a week. Currently, Nasdaq has three trading periods on business days: pre-market (4:00-9:30 am Eastern Time), regular trading (9:30 am-4:00 pm), and after-hours trading (4:00-8:00 pm). After adjusting to a 23-hour/5-day model, there will be two continuous periods - daytime (4:00 am-8:00 pm) and nighttime (9:00 pm-4:00 am the next day), with 1 hour in between for system maintenance, testing, and trade settlement. The daytime period will still include pre-market, regular, and after-hours trading phases, and will maintain the opening bell (9:30 am) and closing bell (4:00 pm) ceremonies. Trades executed from 9:00 pm to midnight during the nighttime period will be recorded for the next day's trading. The new trading week will start at 9:00 pm on Sundays and continue until 8:00 pm on Fridays in the daytime period. The successful launch of 24/7 trading is contingent on the upgrade of the Securities Information Processor (SIP) - the system responsible for displaying the most accurate stock quotes from all U.S. exchanges. The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), as the central clearing hub, plans to launch uninterrupted stock clearing services by the end of 2026. Supporters of 24/7 trading believe that this move will allow investors (especially those outside the U.S.) to respond more quickly to market dynamics that occur outside of regular trading hours. However, major Wall Street banks are cautious about this initiative, fearing that it may lead to reduced liquidity, increased volatility, and uncertainty in investment returns. "Trade according to your own conditions, in your own time zone" Mack pointed out that while trading volumes during extended trading hours are typically much lower than during regular hours, the demand for U.S. stock trading at night continues to soar. Currently, investors hoping for 24-hour trading mainly rely on off-exchange trading platforms such as Blue Ocean, Bruce ATS, and OTC Moon. "We have seen a significant increase in demand for Nasdaq-listed stocks from non-U.S. regions around the world, a trend that has been fully demonstrated in the U.S. stock market," Mack said. "Investors from around the world want to participate in this huge market according to their own conditions, in their own time zone." The trading hours of large exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange date back to over a century ago, when brokers had to manually process orders on the trading floor. Although most stock trading is now electronic, the trading hours of most U.S. exchanges have remained relatively unchanged for decades. Earlier this year, seizing the opportunity of the Trump administration's relaxation of cryptocurrency regulations and the rise of tokenization, Nasdaq submitted an application to U.S. regulators to launch tokenized stock trading services. Mack emphasized, "When the market faces pressure and volatility, trading volumes and activity increase significantly. We have built a highly resilient, high-throughput system capable of handling such scenarios."