The London Stock Exchange Pulls an All-Nighter, Starting 2027
The London Stock Exchange has confirmed plans to launch a night-time trading venue, according to a report by the Financial Times. The venue is set to go live in the first half of 2027 and will operate separately from the LSE’s main market.
The main exchange will keep its standard hours of 8am to 4.30pm. The new venue will run from 5pm to 7.50am, with a 30-minute pause between 6.30pm and 7pm for end-of-day processing. At launch, it will offer exchange-traded products such as funds tracking the UK and US markets, rather than individual shares.
LSE chief executive Julia Hoggett told the FT the exchange has “always been a facilitator of both domestic and global flow,” pointing to demand from retail investors worldwide, particularly in Asia, to trade through London’s time zone for access to UK and global assets.
Read more: Overnight Trading Is Still Niche, but Access Keeps Expanding
Crypto’s Around-the-Clock Pull
The move comes as crypto platforms such as Coinbase and Kraken have expanded into round-the-clock stock trading, drawing younger retail investors used to trading on their own schedule. Finance Magnates has previously reported that LSEG’s exploration of 24-hour trading followed similar moves by Nasdaq, the NYSE and Cboe Global Markets in the US, all pursuing extended-hours trading subject to regulatory approval, with the SEC already clearing extended-hours trading on the 24X National Exchange.
Finance Magnates has also reported that equities trading made up just 2.7% of LSEG’s total revenue in the first quarter of last year, with most income coming from selling financial data to banks and brokers. The push coincides with a prolonged UK listings drought; London raised £74.7 million from new listings in the first quarter of last year compared with £8.9 billion in the US.
eToro vice-president of development strategy Elad Lavi told the FT that retail customers want “24/5, soon to be 24/7” access, adding that crypto has shaped expectations for immediate reaction to breaking news.
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Institutional Investors Still Lukewarm
The FT reported that institutional investors have been more ambivalent than retail traders. The World Federation of Exchanges said last year that overseas institutional investors wanted extended access “to a lesser extent” than Asia-Pacific retail investors, adding that extended trading is “not appropriate or desirable in all contexts.” The Federation of European Securities Exchanges said it remains to be seen whether such models are sustainable long term.
Hoggett told the FT that retail demand is driving the current move but that she expects institutional interest to grow over time. The LSE plans to eventually extend trading to more than 2,600 exchange-traded products on the exchange. Simon McQuoid-Mason, the LSE’s head of new product and market structure for equities, told the FT that starting with ETPs avoids the timing and regulatory complexities tied to individual stocks, and that agentic AI trading tools would be built into the new venue.
This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.
