Nasdaq’s near 24-hour trading plan sparks Wall Street backlash

Nasdaq has filed a rule change with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to extend trading in U.S.-listed stocks and exchange-traded products to 23 hours a day, five days a week. Today, Nasdaq effectively runs a 16-hour schedule, with pre-market from 4 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Eastern, regular trading from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and after-hours from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Under the new plan, there would be a single “day session” from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, then an hour-long shutdown, followed by a new “Night Session” from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. ET. Trading would effectively run from Sunday night through Friday night, with only one hour each weekday where U.S. stocks on Nasdaq cannot trade.According to exclusive reports from Reuters and CNBC, Nasdaq argues this is simply the next step in a world where investors expect markets to be open whenever they are awake, not just when New York is. In an emailed statement quoted, Nasdaq executive Chuck Mack said:Why Wall Street is angryA lot of people on Wall Street think this is the wrong answer to a real problem. According to Forbes reporting, Wells Fargo analysts blasted the proposal as “the worst thing in the world,” arguing it would further “gamify” stocks and make equity trading look even more like a casino. The Nasdaq's plan to begin trading 23 hours a day is causing pushback.S Their core argument is simple: liquidity in U.S. stocks is already heavily concentrated around the opening and closing bells, while off-peak hours are thinner and more fragile. “Most of the complaints I hear about market structure are about poor volumes,” a Wells Fargo trading desk memo said, questioning why the response is to stretch trading across even more hours.More Wall Street:Stanley Druckenmiller’s latest buys suggest shifting tech trendGoldman Sachs unveils stock market forecast through 2035Dalio’s Bridgewater quietly reshapes its portfolio amid bubble warningsPeter Thiel dumps top AI stock, stirring bubble fearsJay Woods, chief global strategist at Freedom Capital and a veteran NYSE floor broker, told CNBC that companies and investors need “time to pause” to process information, hold meetings, and release news without an active tape reacting instantly. He warned that nonstop or near-nonstop trading “opens up a new set of challenges,” including burnout for traders and executives and less time for thoughtful decision making.The risk fears: liquidity, volatility, and human limitsFrom a market-structure perspective, the biggest fear is that near-24-hour trading spreads the same pool of orders more thinly, instead of attracting a whole new wave of participants. When volume is low, every order matters more, which can mean wider bid-ask spreads, flashier price moves, and more opportunities for sophisticated players to trade against slower retail orders.Overnight news is another pressure point. According to Yahoo Finance, investors outside the U.S. like the idea of responding more quickly to earnings and macro headlines, but they also acknowledge that near-constant trading can leave less breathing room to digest those numbers. The risk is that you wake up and find a stock blasted 10% higher or lower on thin overnight volume, driven more by traders’ knee-jerk reactions than by calm analysis.There’s also the human side. Banks, brokers, and market makers may feel compelled to staff desks almost around the clock to support clients and avoid being picked off by competitors during the night session. That means higher costs and more stress on people whose mistakes can ripple through markets, especially in complex products and fast-moving headlines.The case for near-24-hour tradingNasdaq and its allies say this is where markets are going anyway, and the status quo is already out of sync with how and when people want to trade. Crypto markets and some retail brokers already offer near-24/5 trading on certain stocks and tokens, which has trained younger traders to expect a screen they can trade at almost any hour.Related: Stock Market News: New York City gets casinos, Palantir and DatabricksThe exchange’s filing frames the move as a way to serve overseas investors who want to trade U.S. equities in local business hours rather than staying up for the New York session. For investors in Asia, a 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. ET night session roughly overlaps with their daytime, making it easier to react to U.S. earnings or Federal Reserve developments before the next American open.There is also a plumbing argument.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which stands behind most U.S. equity trades, is actively moving to 24/5 clearing, with plans to have the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) operating from Sunday 8 p.m. to Friday 8 p.m. Eastern by mid-2026. DTCC says that extending clearing hours “maximizes liquidity and reduces counterparty risk” by wrapping more of the day’s trades inside its central counterparty guarantee.Are we headed to 24/7?Nasdaq isn’t alone in thinking U.S. markets should move closer to 24/7.

The New York Stock Exchange already won preliminary SEC approval for a model that would extend its own trading to 22 hours a day, pending data-feed upgrades, and is working with DTCC on the necessary clearing changes.DTCC’s 24/5 clearing roadmap explicitly cites demand from exchanges and alternative trading systems for standardized extended hours, pointing to a broader industry shift rather than a one-off experiment. Kevin Tyrrell, head of markets at NYSE, said the move “highlights the continued advancement of our capital markets and the increasing global demand for U.S. listed securities.That raises the bigger question: are you headed toward a world where U.S. stocks trade the way crypto does now—24/7, including weekends? For now, Nasdaq and DTCC are drawing the line at 23 hours a day, five days a week, in part to preserve weekend downtime for corporate actions, system maintenance, and basic human rest. But the direction of travel is clear: markets are stretching toward always on, not snapping back to a shorter day.How to protect yourself if markets never sleepYou can’t control whether the SEC approves Nasdaq’s plan, but you can control how you invest in this new environment. A few practical guardrails help you keep your long-term plan intact even if Wall Street never sleeps.First, decide when you trade—not when the market does. Even if your broker lets you place orders at midnight, you can choose to transact only during regular hours to get better liquidity and tighter spreads. Think of overnight access as an emergency fire extinguisher, not a toy you pull out every day.Second, tighten your order discipline. If you ever do trade outside the core session, use limit orders instead of market orders so you control the worst price you’ll accept. That’s especially important in thin markets, where a few cents of extra spread on every trade can quietly erode your returns over time.Finally, zoom out. The real drivers of your wealth—your savings rate, asset allocation, and time in the market—don’t depend on whether the Nasdaq is open 16 hours or 23. Extended hours might create more short-term noise, but if you stay focused on long-term goals, you can let the night session play out in the background while you do something more productive: sleep.Related: Stock Market Today: MongoDB and Boeing Define Tuesday Rebound Trade; American Eagle, CrowdStrike, and Marvell Report