At a Glance
- Nasdaq confirmed a new overnight session starting Sunday, December 6
- Trading will run nearly 23 hours a day, five days a week
- Still needs SEC sign-off
- NYSE already has approval for a 22-hour day; Cboe is eyeing similar moves
Nasdaq is stretching its trading day to almost round-the-clock, and the shift could change how and when everyday investors trade US stocks.
Starting December 6, pending SEC approval, Nasdaq will run trading from Sunday evening through Friday evening with barely a break. A new overnight session, 9 pm to 4 am ET, means European traders could be active for hours before London even opens – 3 am to 10 am CET.
Key Details
Nasdaq already offers early and late sessions around its 9:30 am – 4 pm core hours, but that access has mostly gone to institutions with direct market connections. This expansion opens the door wider. Nasdaq president Tal Cohen called it a way to broaden access and “expand wealth-building opportunities” beyond Wall Street’s usual crowd.
The timing tracks the money: foreign holdings of US equities hit $17 trillion by mid-2024, up 97% since 2019, and Nasdaq clearly wants a piece of that flow instead of losing it to platforms that never close.
Why It Matters
Markets have been getting caught flat-footed by news that breaks outside trading hours, like the February strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, announced on a Saturday, which sent traders scrambling to crypto and decentralized platforms just to price oil and gold.
Nasdaq isn’t moving alone either: NYSE already has approval for a 22-hour day, and Cboe has signaled it wants in too.
The endgame is 24/7 trading. December’s launch is just the first real step.
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Source: Yahoo Finance
