The largest stock exchange in the world is reportedly gauging interest in becoming an around-the-clock operation.
According to the Financial Times, the New York Stock Exchange’s (NYSE) analytics team is surveying interest in after-hours trading.
FT says the interest is largely driven by the 24/7 world of crypto trading, which saw huge increases in retail investors during the 2020 pandemic.
The NYSE evolving into an overnight trading option would represent a huge change for the world’s leading exchange. According to Georgetown University finance professor James Angel, the viability of the change should be decided by the free market, not the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“I have no idea how much volume they’re going to be doing in the middle of the night. But it’s really not up to the SEC to decide whether it’s commercially viable or not. I’m in favor of letting the market decide. If it succeeds, we’re all better off, and if it doesn’t, well, the exchange’s investors lost.”
The NYSE survey comes as a financial start-up called 24 Exchange, which has backing from hedge fund Point72, seeks SEC approval to launch the first 24-hour traditional stock exchange.
24 Exchange withdrew a similar initial proposal last year due to technical issues, but its latest proposal has not received any letters of concern. The SEC has several months to respond to the proposal.
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