Bitcoin can move 10% on a Sunday morning, while Apple cannot trade on Nasdaq at the same time — and the reason is not technology. The harder part is the infrastructure behind each trade: brokers, market makers, clearinghouses, custodians, banks and corporate-action systems. Crypto was built around continuously operating networks, whereas U.S. equities were built around defined trading days.
That gap is narrowing. The SEC is holding a roundtable on preparations for 24-hour stock trading, including overnight liquidity, settlement and closing-price processes. Bitcoin does not depend on the New York business day: transactions can settle whenever the network is operating, and crypto exchanges can match buyers and sellers around the clock. Stocks work differently, with the main U.S. session still running from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET. NYSE plans an expanded model running roughly 23 hours a day, five days a week, but 24-hour trading is not the same as 24/7 trading because banks, clearing systems and institutional operations still follow business-day schedules.
Even if an order is matched at 2 a.m., making everything behind it work normally is harder. Overnight markets generally have fewer buyers, sellers and market makers, which can mean wider spreads and bigger price moves on smaller trades. Nasdaq has noted that overnight trading can come with higher costs and thinner liquidity. U.S. stocks settle on a T+1 basis, so continuous trading requires brokers, custodians and clearing infrastructure to remain synchronized for much longer periods. The main challenges include thin overnight liquidity, continuous clearing, moving cash and securities, banks that are not universally 24/7, processing corporate actions, and monitoring overnight manipulation.
Even if trading becomes nearly continuous, markets still need an official reference price. The 4 p.m. close is used to calculate fund values, index levels, portfolio performance and many derivatives, which is why the SEC is also examining closing-price processes. Corporate actions create another issue: dividends, stock splits and mergers need clear dates and ownership records. Tokenization could eventually simplify some of this. According to Coinpaper’s tokenized stocks explainer, blockchain-based securities can combine trading and settlement more closely, while NYSE is also exploring a tokenized securities venue built around continuous trading.
