What You Can and Can’t Do in 24-Hour Markets

Equities markets are increasingly trending toward 24-hour trading. The SEC approved a national securities exchange application from 24X National Exchange in November 2024, paving the way for a new exchange with extended trading hours beyond what is currently on offer.

Even preexisting exchanges like the Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) are moving in this direction; the NYSE announced in October 2024 that it would extend trading hours on the NYSE Arca Equities Exchange to 22 hours per day.

For investors, this may change the calculus of how to go about managing a portfolio and participating in trades. For now, many investors are relegated to trading on weekends or holidays—examples of after-hours trading—as a means of accessing certain financial markets during periods in which primary exchanges are closed. 

While this access opens up many opportunities, it also creates fresh risks for investors. In many cases, an investor can place an order on a trading platform on the weekend or over a holiday, but that transaction won’t be executed until the market opens again. However, this could change as hours continue to expand for many exchanges.

Understanding Weekend Trading

Access to Markets

Some markets are more conducive to weekend trading than others. For example, the cryptocurrency market is famously open 24 hours per day, seven days per week. This gives cryptocurrency traders the opportunity to conduct transactions anytime they wish—due to the decentralized and international nature of many crypto tokens, this is a crucial feature of the space.

Another market with extended trading hours is forex. Foreign exchange markets are typically open for 24 hours per day, five days per week. This means that, depending upon the location, the investor may be able to trade on the weekends in local time. Holding forex positions open over the weekend is possible, but it can lead to price gaps, volatility, and other unanticipated effects related to global news and events.

Rarely, brokers may facilitate trading—oftentimes in synthetic markets—on weekends. This is often limited to particular indices, commodities, cryptocurrency, and forex.

News-Driven Opportunities

Why might an investor trade on weekends? A key factor is the ability to respond to news-driven opportunities. In some cases, being able to act on a trade based on news that breaks over the weekend can open up the potential for gains for an investor.

Separate Pricing

Investors planning to trade on weekends should beware of separate pricing structures compared with trades executed while traditional markets are open. Brokers offering weekend trades may apply an increased “weekend fee” to positions held over a weekend. 

Understanding Holiday Trading

Specific Markets

Major exchanges like the NYSE and the Nasdaq are closed for many U.S. holidays. Keep in mind, though, that specific markets may be open for certain holidays due to the differences between federally and locally recognized holidays. For example, both the NYSE and the Nasdaq are open on Veterans Day.

Broker-Specific

A handful of brokers may also provide some trading access on some holidays. These include discount online brokers like Robinhood, which offers cryptocurrency trading even if the U.S. stock markets are closed. Keep in mind also that much after-hours trading activity is done by institutional investors, so individual retail investors may be at a disadvantage in multiple ways.

Impact of Holidays

Some investors hold the belief in a so-called “holiday effect,” which may lead to rallies leading up to holidays and dips following them. Stocks may also be impacted by holidays due to customer behavior; retailers, for example, might see huge upticks in sales on Black Friday or in the period leading up to Christmas each year.

Weekend and Holiday Trading: What You Can Do

Place Orders

Most brokers will allow investors to place an order even when markets aren’t open, such as over the weekend or on holidays. However, these orders will be kept pending and will not be executed until the market reopens, by which point prices, liquidity, and many other factors may have changed.

Trade Cryptocurrencies

Because of the 24/7 nature of the cryptocurrency space, investors can execute crypto trades on weekends or holidays without concern. However, that’s not to say that trading volumes will always be the same, and investors may find it more difficult to execute trades at their desired price if fewer traders are active.

Trade Certain Stock Indices

As mentioned above, certain specialized stock indices—such as the Weekend U.S. Tech 100 or other weekend indices offered by IG—do offer weekend trades. Nonetheless, investors should be sure to understand the charges, risks, and processes associated with brokerages allowing trades on the weekend, as they are likely to be different from trades done during normal market hours.

Weekend and Holiday Trading: What You Can’t Do

Execute Trades on Most Traditional Assets

One thing that investors are not able to do when trading on the weekend or over holidays is execute trades for most traditional assets. This is a reason why weekend or holiday trading is inherently risky: the bid-ask spread you encounter during those periods may change significantly, along with the price and many other factors, by the time the trade actually executes upon the market reopening.

Directly Trade Stocks on Major Exchanges

Similarly, it is not possible to directly trade stocks on major exchanges during the weekend or on a holiday. However, it is possible to place orders for execution on the next day the exchange is open. Further, as mentioned above, there are specialized exchanges that are open on weekends. 

Additionally, investors may utilize electronic communication networks (ECNs), systems that match buy and sell orders without the use of an exchange, to make indirect trades. However, there are often limitations to what ECNs can accomplish, and they often come with lower liquidity and increased volatility.

Access Immediate Market Liquidity

Even if you are able to find a way to complete trades over the weekend, on a holiday, or at a time when markets are generally not available, you should expect to have a difficult time accessing liquidity. This may be true even in the case of trades that would be easy to facilitate during regular trading hours.

The Bottom Line

While there is a shift toward 24-hour trading and new, longer trading hours for even some of the most established stock exchanges, as of mid-2025, investors still have to find workarounds to be able to trade outside of normal market hours. This is possible to do in several ways—by focusing on cryptocurrencies, forex, and other instruments that are not bound by traditional U.S. exchange hours; by utilizing specialized exchanges that offer overnight trading; or by setting up orders to be executed when the market opens again, for example.

There are drawbacks to 24-hour trading, including lower liquidity, higher volatility, and the possibility of skewed bid-ask spreads. Before attempting to trade on the weekend or over a holiday, it’s wise to consider the risks and potential additional costs to do so.