Nasdaq seeks to extend market hours as Wall St gears up for round-the-clock trading

Nasdaq, one of the world’s largest exchanges that is home to tech companies Nvidia, Apple and Amazon, is planning to submit paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Dec 15 to roll out round-the-clock trading of stocks as it looks to capitalise on global demand for US equities.

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Investor demand for nonstop trading in US stocks has surged in recent years, prompting regulators to introduce new rules and green-light proposals from major exchanges to enable trading beyond normal market hours.

The US stock market represents almost two-thirds of the market value of listed companies globally, while total foreign holdings of US equities reached US$17 trillion (S$22 trillion) in 2024, according to data compiled by Nasdaq.

Nasdaq's filing with the SEC will mark its first formal step towards rolling out round-the-clock trading, five days a week.

In March, Nasdaq president Tal Cohen said the exchange operator had started discussions with regulators and expected to launch nonstop, five-day-a-week trading in the second half of 2026.

The New York Stock Exchange and CBOE Global Markets also recently announced plans to move to round-the-clock trading for stocks.

Mr Chuck Mack, senior vice-president of North American markets at Nasdaq, told Reuters: “There’s been this trend towards globalisation for some time and we've seen the US markets themselves become much more global.”

TWO DAILY TRADING SESSIONS

Nasdaq plans to expand trading hours of stocks and exchange-traded products from 16 hours to 23 hours, five days a week.