By Alexander Osipovich, Reporter
Interactive Brokers said it has enabled overnight trading in more than 10,000 stocks and exchange-traded funds, the latest step in the direction of 24-hour stock trading by a major retail brokerage.
With the expansion of its overnight hours, Interactive Brokers now offers nearly round-the-clock trading five days a week. The Greenwich, Conn.-based brokerage firm says its customers can trade stocks continuously between 8 p.m. ET on Sunday and 4 p.m. ET on Friday, with the exception of 10-minute pauses between 3:50 a.m. and 4 a.m. ET.
In May, Robinhood announced that it was allowing round-the-clock trading on weekdays in selected stocks and ETFs.
Interactive Brokers enabled overnight trading of ETFs late last year and quietly added some individual stocks in April. Last week, the brokerage firm significantly expanded the menu of stocks available to trade in the overnight hours, but didn’t publicize the change until today.
By convention, the stock market opens at 9:30 a.m. ET and closes at 4 p.m. ET. Many brokers offer “extended hours” trading sessions that start as early as 4 a.m. ET and end at 8 p.m. ET. Recently, a small but growing number of brokerages have made it possible for night-owl investors to buy or sell stocks after 8 p.m. ET as well.
Behind the scenes, both Robinhood and Interactive Brokers connect to Blue Ocean, a trading platform that runs a special overnight session between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. ET five nights a week. Some Asian brokerages also use Blue Ocean to allow their customers to trade U.S. stocks while investors in North America are asleep.
Read the article on The Wall Street Journal
