SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins opened a 24-Hour Trading Roundtable on September 17, 2026, by framing expanded exchange hours as a response to investor demand and global market realities. He noted that critical business and economic events are no longer confined to traditional trading hours, and that waiting until 9:30 a.m. Monday to adjust a position or rebalance a hedge may create missed opportunities or additional risk. Atkins said some investors are already trading 24 hours a day on alternative trading systems, and that registered U.S. exchanges could evolve to offer additional hours.
Atkins identified several preparations already underway or in place. DTCC has gone live with 23 by 5 trade-capture systems to enable clearance and settlement capabilities. The industry has adopted a plan to establish overnight price bands and require all trading centers active during overnight hours to maintain and enforce written policies and procedures designed to prevent trades outside those bands. Work is also ongoing to prepare Securities Information Processor plans for overnight price dissemination to promote transparency. Atkins said firms have cited operational challenges in obtaining locates to support market making when spreads may be wide.
The chairman suggested tokenization could help the securities industry achieve real-time inventory management, potentially driving efficiency, reducing settlement failures, and mitigating the risk of abusive naked short selling. He said he has asked SEC staff to consider steps that could dovetail a growth-friendly environment with protections against harmful market behavior. Atkins also encouraged issuers to engage, welcoming feedback on how 24-hour trading may affect corporate actions, dissemination of material information, and SEC filings during EDGAR filing hours.
What remains unknown is how market intermediaries will make commercial decisions about overnight services, and whether market activity will expand enough to raise incentives for prime brokerage and securities lending that support market making and institutional participation. Atkins did not specify a timeline for exchange approvals or detail how the SEC would address the operational and regulatory gaps he identified.