Theoretically could the stock market operate 24/7?

Hello, I am wondering if this is possible, if not why, and if it would happen, what could the implications be? We are in an exponential age and I have a feeling this could happen to add liquidity to global economies

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In theory it does (After Hours Trading which is more Volatile) but do you want to access it 24/7.

Trust me when you been investing for a while you prefer it does closes after 16:00 (or 21:00 for US)

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What benefit would it have?
It would cost more and need overnight employees for everything.

I donā€™t see how it would add liquidity- it would add volatility but thatā€™s not really a good thing.

Unless youā€™re trying the game the market with swing / day trading then there really isnā€™t much benefits so far as I can see.

Yh it really funny I was just discussing with a friend today how we probably better off just putting everything in a ETF & donā€™t bother with Trading or Investing in Individual Stocks.

It just a hassle when you have Individual Stocks (Trust me imagine buying EHANG when it all time high before it tank)

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You wouldnā€™t be the only one to wonder that @ShaidK Buffett's Bet with the Hedge Funds: And the Winner Is ā€¦

Interesting question, when I started investing I assumed that you could buy and sell shares whenever you wanted as itā€™s all digital. I was surprised that a digital purchasing system still had trading hours of 9 to 5, seemed a bit old fashioned. If I want to buy something off Amazon, I can buy it at any time of the day.

I guess it comes from trading floor guys having to have a reasonable working day. Personally, it would be better for me if markets operated 24/7 as I could research a stock and then buy it knowing exactly what price I would get if itā€™s 9pm in the evening or something.

Crypto is obviously newer, but trades 24/7/365 - always on. FX also trades 24 hours a day, presumably because itā€™s needed in order for businesses to trade.

I would guess that at some point the stock market(s) will go 24/7. It will suck for people who are on the trading floor or who professionally trade 9 to 5, but I think there will be some benefits to markets being open all the time. New information can be acted on instantly, instead of having to wait 12 hours or a full weekend, which in theory will make transfer of money and allocation of resources more efficient.

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What benefits are you thinking about when you say ā€˜there will be some benefitsā€™?

The Amazon example actually is the opposite of what you intended. You can order 24/7, but it only gets fulfilled once Amazon opens for business in your country, not when they receive the order. So exactly like the stock market currently.

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Itā€™s in the next sentence, my dude!

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Fair enough, I thought thereā€™d be more to come.

Yeah I really want it to be open 24 hours, and find while Iā€™ve been asleep the markets have crashed and Iā€™ve lost me money

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THANK YOU! It bugs the fudging cow pats out of me that itā€™s not open 24/7. If supermarkets can be open 24/7 and essential workers can be expected to work night shifts then I donā€™t appreciate that stock markets (and banking) still operate on a Mon-Fri + old working hours model.

I see the points about volatility whilst you sleep but that happens now if youā€™re investing in overseas stock markets plus we have tools like the Stop Limit thingies.

However when I seize power, I am willing to compromiseā€¦ the UK stock markets will move to a 9am-9pm, 7 days per week model. I wonā€™t be a monster when Iā€™m in charge, unless you insist on eating roast beef on Sundays.

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Milk break for 15 minutes at 11am though?

cookie-monster-drinking-milk

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[quote=ā€œCashCow, post:12, topic:53344, full:trueā€]I wonā€™t be a monster when Iā€™m in charge, unless you insist on eating roast beef on Sundays.
[/quote]

Sure, if youā€™re going to eat Monster Munch on a Sunday, itā€™s Pickled Onion or bust.

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It would lower liquidity, not add it! Say you have volume of 1M over 10 hours, extremely crude (most trading happens at open & close) average of 100k/h. Go to 24h, and thatā€™s slightly less crudely (no open and closeā€¦ probably most would now happen ~start & ~end of ā€˜typicalā€™ work day, in the major regions trading in that market?) less than 50k/h.

You might offer more liquidity to a retail trader wanting to place an order for TSLA at 3am after discussing it on a night out (who currently canā€™t fill that instantly, and either leaves a limit/fill-kill order or places it whenever they wake up the next day, probably after opening) - but not to the professionals working whatever hours, who have the most volume to shift anyway.

Anyway, ā€˜theoreticallyā€™ yes, and it is something that gets discussed and tried - but not for liquidity. Another thing discussed and desired by some is much shorter opening; itā€™s that that would have the liquidity advantage, condensing all the trading in a day into just half an hour or whatever.

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That would create many new jobs :stuck_out_tongue:

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These people are the backbone of our financial markets, we need to support them. This could be 10ā€™s or even 100ā€™s of Ā£ā€™s of lost transactions that are instead being spent on dodgy takeaways :disappointed_relieved:

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IIRC Nasdaq tried to set up a 24/7 market in the early 2000s but it never took off.

@AchillesFirstStand

Itā€™s an interesting concept to want to trade 24/7, and have expedition like Amazon. And letā€™s face it some markets like currencies and crypto currency are there. I donā€™t trade in these markets so I canā€™t speculate on there expedition.

But bearing in mind most markets have pre market and post market hours, that most brokers donā€™t allow trading in, a 24/7 market I believe is far far away.

Plus personally Iā€™d be frazzled if they were 24/7. I like the non operating hours for me to absorb whatā€™s happened in that market/sector overall economic impact and do my homework on potential investments. But hey I maybe old school in this respect.