Interactive Brokers, the global electronic broker, expanded overnight trading to include contracts for difference (CFDs) on US stocks and exchange-traded funds as exchanges review 24-hour operations.

The broker said in a statement that the expansion allows clients to trade CFDs on over 3,500 US stocks and ETFs during overnight trading hours, from 8:00 pm to 3:50 am ET, Sunday to Friday. This allows global investors, especially from Asia, to react to news and market events in real time, regardless of their local time zone.

Milan Galik, chief executive of Interactive Brokers, said in a statement: “With the growing popularity and increase in overnight trading volumes, expanding our offerings to include CFDs on US equities is a strategic enhancement.”

The attraction of US stocks and ETFs to global to overseas investors was highlighted by ETFGI. The independent research and consultancy firm said in a report that 27 of the top 50 overseas securities purchased by Korean retail investors in July were ETFs listed in the US and Japan.The largest purchase in July was $3.05bn of the Direxion Daily Semiconductors Bull 3X SHS ETF listed in the US.

In addition 24 Exchange, backed by Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures fund, has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for approval to launch the first fully electronic exchange that allows around the clock trading of securities. The New York Stock Exchange has consulted members on 24-hour trading, which already occurs in cryptocurrency markets.

Dmitri Galinov, chief executive and founder of 24 Exchange, told Traders Magazine in March this year that the venue would facilitate around-the-clock trades in U.S. equities for retail and institutional traders anywhere in the world via broker-dealers, who are registered members of the Exchange.

He said: “24X National Exchange will reduce risk by making a regulated exchange available to trade around the clock with appropriate controls that were developed in close coordination with the SEC.”

Blue Ocean Technologies already operates a venue for overnight trading of US stocks. Clients can trade  can trade US National Market System stocks between 8pm and 4am ET from Sunday to Thursday, which allows Asian investors to buy and sell US stocks during their trading day. Last year the Tokyo Stock Exchange acquired a stake in Blue Ocean and the firm also has partnerships with brokers in South Korea and Hong Kong.

The ATS currently operates only on those calendar days when the NYSE Trade Report Facility (TRF) is open for reporting the following morning. The ATS does not open on Friday or Saturday evenings, because the NYSE TRF is not available for reporting of trades the following day.

📢 Limited symbol trading from Aug 7, 8pm ET to Aug 15, 8pm ET. Full NMS symbol list resumes on Aug 16 (Aug 15, 8pm ET) after our new matching engine launch. Learn more: https://t.co/rwuUkS7n0n #TradingUpdate #StockMarket

— Blue Ocean ATS (@BlueOceanATS) August 7, 2024

The venue was forced to cancel trades on August 5 after US equity volumes ahead of changing its technology stack. Brian Hyndman, president, and chief executive of Blue Ocean Technologies, told Markets Media in February that the firm’s ATS would be migrating its technology to a platform provided by MEMX, the US equities and options exchange operator, this year. He said that Blue Ocean was convinced that MEMX’s technology was the right fit in terms of scalability, reliability, stability, redundancy and compliance features.