SIFMA Roundtable: Building the Roadmap to 24/7 Trading Debrief

Recently, SIFMA convened an all-day Roundtable on the evolution of equity trading, examining the operational, technological, and regulatory changes necessary as exchanges and other trading venues move beyond extended hours trading toward a 24/7 trading model. Discussions brought together regulators, market makers, buy-side and sell-side participants, exchanges, and Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs), and surfaced several key themes:

• Overnight equity trading in the U.S.—currently offered only through ATSs—is growing, but activity remains highly concentrated and exhibits materially different liquidity and volatility characteristics than core trading hours. Demand for overnight trading is strongest among retail investors, while institutional investor participation remains limited; nonetheless, panelists generally agreed that the question is not whether 24/7 trading will emerge, but when.
• Discussions are ongoing as the industry moves to align on issues such as collateral and margin posting, volatility management, corporate actions processing, and trade reporting. Panelists stressed that harmonization of trading hours and other foundational protocols are a prerequisite for scaling extended trading hours, with consensus around key questions viewed as critical to preserving market integrity and ensuring investor protections.