The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has announced a new overnight trading market, to compete with cryptocurrency exchanges and modernise ahead of widespread adoption of agentic trading.

LSE 24 is a new 24 hours, five days per week trading venue, which will operate separately from LSE’s main market and offer what the LSE called “near-continuous trading from Monday to Friday”.

The Financial Times reported that LSE 24 will run from 5pm to 7.50am, pausing for 30 minutes at 6.30pm to apply end-of-day processes.

Julia Hoggett, chief executive of LSE plc and Head of Digital and Securities Markets at London Stock Exchange Group, said: “The launch of LSE 24 marks an important step in the evolution of our markets, providing clients with greater flexibility beyond traditional trading hours and supporting more digital, connected global markets.

“By integrating with LSEG’s digital markets infrastructure, LSE 24 will help support deeper liquidity, greater efficiency and broader participation in our markets, reinforcing London’s position as a leading global financial centre.”

LSE will roll out LSE 24 for client testing by the end of 2026, then launch exchange-traded products (ETPs) as the market’s first asset class in the first half of 2027. The firm said ETPs are a “natural starting point,” given London’s status as an ETP hub, demand for efficient international exposure, and the newfound opportunity to participate in activities during overseas trading hours.

LSEG has been exploring 24-hour trading since at least July 2025, with reports at the time suggesting the exchange was feeling increasingly under pressure from the popularity of after-hours trading on crypto markets among younger investors.

Greater access to overnight trading could also enable greater automation in the sector, with agentic AI increasingly capable of carrying out trading without human intervention. On 1 July Sarah Breeden, deputy governor for financial stability at the Bank of England, said new regulation may be needed to encompass the impact of agentic AI on trading and other processes.

Other exchanges have similarly applied to extend their operating hours. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), for example, applied for permission to run NYSE Arca 22 hours per day in February 2025 and has since expanded that to 23 hours per day. It is targeting a launch for the overnight exchange later this year.

In April, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also approved a Nasdaq proposal to extend its trading hours for ETPs and national market system (NMS) stocks to 23 hours per day, five days per week.

---