The market never sleeps: near-24-hour trading is coming

Key takeaways

• Longer trading hours improve access, but overnight prices may be less reliable.

• Limit orders, volume and bid-offer gaps matter more when fewer investors are trading.

• Investors can set personal trading hours even when exchanges stay open.

The closing bell is becoming less important. On 21 July 2026, London Stock Exchange Group announced LSE 24, a new venue for almost round-the-clock weekday trading. Testing is planned for late 2026, with the first exchange-traded products expected in early 2027, subject to approval. Nasdaq and NYSE Arca are also planning much longer trading hours.

More access is useful. It is not the same as more wisdom.

A larger shop with fewer customers

The main benefit is convenience. Global investors can respond to important news without waiting for another continent to wake up. Exchanges may attract more international activity, while brokers can deepen customer engagement.

The weakness is liquidity, meaning how easily shares can be traded without moving the price. Overnight markets often have fewer participants. The gap between the highest buying price and lowest selling price, known as the bid-offer spread, can therefore widen. Robinhood warns that lower liquidity may bring wider spreads, greater volatility and worse execution prices.

This makes limit orders more important. A limit order sets the most an investor will pay, or the least they will accept. It may not execute, but it reduces the risk of accepting a poor price in a quiet market.

Check the market before believing the move

Suppose a share closes at 100 USD and trades at 92 USD overnight after a political headline. The fall looks dramatic, but four questions matter more than the flashing number.

Did the news directly change the company’s revenue, profits, debt or competitive position? How many shares traded? How wide is the bid-offer spread? Does the price remain near 92 USD after the main market opens?

This separates three types of news. Company-changing news includes profit warnings, acquisitions, regulatory decisions and major contract losses. Temporary market news includes elections, futures moves or overseas weakness. Pure noise is a sharp move with little volume and no clear change to the business.

An overnight price can be real without being representative. A handful of trades may set the visible price, while the deeper market reaches a different conclusion later.

Risks: the cost of constant availability

Longer hours can fragment trading across more venues and sessions, making the best price harder to judge. Safeguards may also differ. NYSE Arca’s planned overnight session would not begin with an opening auction, while some standard volatility controls currently apply only during core hours.

There is also a behavioural risk. A market that is always available can encourage investors to treat every headline as urgent. More trading opportunities may increase activity without improving results.

An investor playbook for longer days

• Prefer limit orders: especially outside normal hours or when trading activity is low.
• Verify overnight moves: check volume, spreads and whether the price holds after the main opening.
• Review the business first: ask whether earning power or financial health actually changed.
• Create personal trading hours: decide which events require action and which decisions deserve a cooling-off period.

The market can stay open. You do not have to

The market may soon trade for 23 hours, but investors do not need to work the night shift. Longer sessions can improve access, especially for people living far from New York or London, and they may strengthen the global reach of exchanges and brokers. Yet access is only a tool. Thin liquidity can distort prices, urgent-looking headlines can prove temporary and tired decisions rarely become smarter because the app is open.

The better response is not to ignore overnight markets, but to use them with rules: limit the price, check the volume, review the business and pause when the facts are unclear. Company value does not reset every five minutes, even when the market does.

This material is marketing content and should not be regarded as investment advice. Trading financial instruments carries risks and historic performance is not a guarantee of future results.

The instrument(s) referenced in this content may be issued by a partner, from whom Saxo receives promotional fees, payment or retrocessions. While Saxo may receive compensation from these partnerships, all content is created with the aim of providing clients with valuable information and options.

The Author, Ruben Dalfovo, owns positions in Interactive Brokers Group.