SEC sets agenda for 24-hour trading roundtable

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released the agenda and panelists for a roundtable focused on preparations for 24-hour trading. The event is scheduled for 17 September 2026 and will be held at the regulator’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The session is designed to assess how market participants are positioning themselves for a shift toward near-continuous trading hours.

The roundtable, led by the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets, will feature opening remarks from the SEC Chairman and Commissioners, as well as Jamie Selway, the Director of the Division. A data presentation by the Division’s Office of Analytics and Research will follow at 10:30 a.m. ET. The event is open to the public, with in-person attendance subject to registration and security checks, while a live webcast will be available on the SEC’s website.

Panel One, commencing at 11:00 a.m. ET, will examine preparedness for a 24-hour market. The discussion will focus on exchange and broker-dealer readiness, overnight surveillance, and closing-price processes. Moderators for this session include Jon Kroeper from the SEC and Katie Kolchin from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. The panel aims to highlight completed initiatives, outstanding tasks, and expected liquidity conditions.

At 1:15 p.m. ET, Panel Two will explore operational resiliency in a 24-hour market. Topics include systems readiness, Regulation SCI considerations, failover and capacity planning, and cybersecurity. The session will also address staffing models for overnight operations and how firms are preparing to maintain orderly markets during continuous trading. Partick Norton of the SEC and Jim Toes of the Security Traders Association will moderate the discussion.

Panel Three, scheduled for 2:45 p.m. ET, will discuss the expected impacts on liquidity and capital formation as trading expands. The panel will consider how market participation may evolve and the potential effects on issuers. It will also look ahead to future expansions toward 24x7 trading and the infrastructure changes required to support them. Peggy Sullivan from the SEC and Adrian Griffiths from MEMX will moderate this final session.

The SEC has noted that the term “24-hour trading” refers to preparations and near-continuous trading, with full 24x7 trading mentioned as a future expansion. A recording of the event will be available on the SEC’s website at a later date.