• The New York Stock Exchange is considering going 24/7, the FT reported.
  • The exchange polled market participants about the merits of round-the-clock trading, per the outlet.
  • Meanwhile, a Steve Cohen-backed startup is seeking SEC approval for a 24-hour exchange.

In a move that may be appropriate for the city that doesn't sleep, as the song goes, the New York Stock Exchange is mulling whether trading should take place around the clock.

The Financial Times reported on Monday that the NYSE's data analytics team had polled market participants about the merits of being open 24 hours a day.

Investors can only trade equities on the exchange between 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET, while other assets including stock futures, US Treasury bonds, and cryptocurrencies can be bought and sold at any time.

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It's also possible to trade before the market opens from 4 a.m, and after it closes until 8 p.m., although liquidity is generally lower and transaction fees tend to be higher in those periods. Some brokers also allow investors to trade round-the-clock on weekdays.

In its poll, the NYSE asked market participants whether they thought the exchange should be open 24/7, or just 24 hours on weekdays, the FT reported.

It also surveyed them on how investors should be protected during periods of volatility, what its overnight staffing plan should be, and whether respondents thought that "time spent thinking about overnight trading would be better spent on regular market hour trading," per the outlet.

Meanwhile, a startup backed by billionaire Steve Cohen's VC firm Point72 Ventures is seeking SEC approval to launch the world's first 24-hour stock exchange.

Bermuda-based 24 Exchange, which netted $14 million worth of investment from Point72 Ventures and others, aims to bring the non-stop nature of crypto trading — which has captivated retail investors in recent years — to the stock market.

"The same people that trade cryptocurrencies started to trade more stocks because of the GameStop movement and the overall participation of retail that [has] increased significantly," 24 Exchange founder and CEO Dmitri Galinov said in December 2021. "If Elon Musk tweets something on Saturday, people would want to buy or sell Tesla stock."