WASHINGTON, D.C.— Benjamin Schiffrin, Director of Securities Policy for Better Markets, issued the following statement in connection with Better Markets’ new Fact Sheet entitled “The SEC is Enabling 24/7 Stock Trading Without the Conditions It Previously Put in Place to Protect Investors”: 

“24/7 stock trading poses huge risks for retail investors. When the SEC first approved a national securities exchange’s application to operate an overnight trading session in 2024, it attempted to mitigate the risks by not allowing overnight trading to commence until the infrastructure was in place to ensure investors were getting the best price for their trades during overnight trading. However, in August, the SEC issued an order that would allow overnight trading to commence without this essential market infrastructure. 

“Tomorrow, the SEC will host a roundtable regarding 24-hour stock trading and the preparedness for a 24-hour market. But if the SEC is determined to allow 24-hour trading to commence even when it admits the market would be unprepared, there seems to be little point to the roundtable. The SEC’s time would be better spent explaining why it is so eager to endanger investors by allowing overnight trading without the necessary safeguards. 

“In August, the SEC said that allowing overnight trading despite the essential infrastructure being inoperative would protect investors by giving them access to overnight trading without further delay. But in 2024, the SEC said that the only way to protect investors during overnight trading was for the requisite market infrastructure that would ensure they received the best prices overnight to be in place. It is inexplicable that the SEC would now say investors need to be able to trade overnight regardless of whether the requisite market infrastructure that would protect them exists. The SEC acted despite recognizing that ‘no national securities exchange currently operates its trading system’ without the necessary market infrastructure for ensuring price transparency. The question to be answered at tomorrow’s roundtable is why the SEC would allow exchanges to do so overnight.” 

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Better Markets is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent organization founded in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to promote the public interest in the financial markets, support the financial reform of Wall Street and make our financial system work for all Americans again. Better Markets works with allies—including many in finance—to promote pro-market, pro-business and pro-growth policies that help build a stronger, safer financial system that protects and promotes Americans’ jobs, savings, retirements and more. To learn more, visit www.bettermarkets.org.