A startup trading platform is seeking approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch the first U.S. stock exchange that would operate around the clock, including on weekends and holidays.
The startup, 24 Exchange, said it filed key parts of its application for a national stock-exchange license with the SEC on Monday, including a rulebook and user manual detailing its proposed approach to trading hours.
Under decades-old conventions, the bulk of stock trading takes place between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET on weekdays, and exchanges shut down for holidays, such as Good Friday and Washington’s Birthday. In contrast, 24 Exchange would operate like the foreign-exchange and cryptocurrency markets, which run continuously.
The three-year-old startup already offers trading in FX and crypto. Its parent company, 24 Exchange Bermuda Ltd., is incorporated in Bermuda, but the proposed stock exchange would be run by a U.S. subsidiary.
24 Exchange is led by
Dmitri Galinov,
a two-decade veteran of electronic trading. In the 2000s, he worked at
and helped run the bank’s so-called dark pool for stock trades. After leaving the bank, he founded FastMatch Inc., a foreign-exchange trading venue that was acquired by exchange operator
NV. Investors in 24 Exchange include international banking group
PLC.
CEO Dmitri Galinov, with cap, says there is growing demand for round-the-clock stock trading from individual investors.
Photo:
Scott McIntyre for The Wall Street Journal
In an interview, Mr. Galinov said there is growing demand for round-the-clock stock trading from individual investors. Not only do such investors often want to buy or sell stocks outside of standard trading hours, but the 24/7 nature of crypto has raised expectations that stocks should work the same way, he said.
“If there is big news over the weekend, you can try to trade, but you really can’t,” the founder and chief executive said.
Currently, investors can trade as early as 4 a.m. ET and as late as 8 p.m. ET, thanks to premarket and post-market trading sessions offered by the New York Stock Exchange and other market operators. Because of thin liquidity, though, prices in these sessions tend to be volatile. And while TD Ameritrade offers 24-hour trading five days a week in a limited number of securities, investors are largely unable to trade overnight or during weekends.
Mr. Galinov said 24 Exchange would also serve…
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