Key highlights:

  • Nasdaq plans to add an overnight session to its trading hours
  • Trading would run almost continuously from 9 p.m. Sunday to 8 p.m. Friday
  • This could start as early as December 2026

Nasdaq said it is looking to stretch its trading day to almost round-the-clock coverage, five days a week. This is in response to the growing interest in U.S. stocks from investors around the world. 

The exchange currently runs from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. This includes premarket, regular, and after-hours sessions. A new overnight window from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. ET would be added under the new plan, pushing total daily coverage to about 23 hours.

How Nasdaq’s new overnight session would work

Exchange officials said this was implemented to give companies an easier way to raise capital from investors in different time zones. This would also give traders outside the U.S. access to American markets during hours that are outside the trading day entirely. 

In the proposed structure, trading would begin at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday and run without interruption through 8 p.m. ET on Friday. There is a one-hour pause each day between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET set aside for processing and rolling over to the next trading date. 

Trades made between 9 p.m. and midnight would be logged under the next calendar day's date, while trades made between midnight and 8 p.m. will carry the current day's date. The exchange plans to begin this on Sunday, December 6, 2026. 

“Subject to SEC approval, Nasdaq will introduce a new trading session on the Nasdaq Stock Market from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. ET,” Nasdaq said.

Nasdaq's options exchanges, Nasdaq Texas and the PSX equity exchange, would keep their current schedules and are not part of this change.

Meanwhile, the overnight session comes with some limits. Traders would need new order-entry ports specifically for that window. Also, certain order types, like market orders and those used during opening and closing auctions, will be inactive in those hours. 

Overnight orders still open at 4 a.m. would be closed. The trade would need to be re-submitted once the next session starts. Nasdaq also plans to add static price bands that would block orders falling outside set limits. The exchange would also add a market-data feed for overnight activity.

Retail platforms paved the way

In many ways, the exchange is catching up to what retail brokerages have already been offering. Robinhood has run its own 24 Hour Market since 2023. This lets users place limit orders on more than 900 stocks and ETFs from 8 p.m ET Sunday through 8 p.m. ET Friday.

Webull also added its own overnight window in late 2024, covering over 500 select securities from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. ET Sunday through Thursday. Interactive Brokers and Charles Schwab offer similar overnight access as well. 

Analysts noted that the exchange is just traditional finance trying to adapt to systems crypto markets are already using. Nate Geraci, CEO of Novadius Wealth Management, said that established exchanges are “now playing by crypto’s rules.”