In opening remarks at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s roundtable on 24-hour equity trading, the SEC chair supported longer exchange hours while emphasizing that investor protections and core market functions must operate effectively overnight. He asked SEC staff to consider steps that would support expanded trading while protecting against harmful market behavior, including whether tokenization could improve real-time inventory management, reduce settlement failures and mitigate abusive naked short selling. Preparations already include the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s 23-hour, five-day trade-capture systems, an industry plan for overnight price bands and ongoing work to enable Securities Information Processor plans to disseminate overnight prices. Further issues include the availability of prime brokerage, securities lending and stock locates, as well as the effects on public companies’ corporate actions, material disclosures and filings during EDGAR operating hours.
2026-09-17U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair urges careful preparations for 24-hour equity trading
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair backed careful preparations for 24-hour equity trading and asked staff to assess measures that combine wider market access with safeguards against harmful conduct. Infrastructure work includes 23-hour, five-day trade capture, overnight price bands and preparations for overnight price dissemination, while operational and issuer-related issues remain under review.