LSE plots 24-hour trading to revive interest in shares

Shares in UK-listed companies could be traded 24 hours a day under radical plans from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) to tap into booming demand from night owl traders.

The LSEG, which owns the flagship London stock market, is accelerating plans to launch a 24-hour trading platform to boost the appeal of the gloomy UK market and encourage overseas investors and younger traders to buy British shares.

Changing trading patterns in the US, where transactions are increasingly done outside of working hours by a new generation of Gen Z retail investors on smartphone apps, is leaving traditional bourses exposed.

Cryptocurrency markets, such as Bitcoin trading, already trade around the clock and more people trade shares in the small hours on platforms like Robinhood, making traditional market hours increasingly anachronistic.

London-listed shares currently only trade between 8am and 4pm.

The LSEG declined to comment on the plan, first reported by the Financial Times, but chief executive David Schwimmer has made no secret of his desire to boost the London market.

Mr Schwimmer has transformed LSEG into a data and technology giant to rival Bloomberg following a $27bn (£21bn) takeover of Refinitiv, with the stock exchange now accounting for just 3pc of the group’s revenues.

Britain’s stock market is facing a crisis after shrinking trading volumes and a dearth of new listing. Recent tax raids by the Government and tariffs woes have also dented companies.

According to figures released by EY on Monday, UK-listed companies issued 59 profit warnings during the second quarter of 2025, a 20pc rise compared to the same period last year.

A shift to 24-hour trading would mirror strides in the US where so-called “dark pools” – which are private exchanges where buyers and sellers meet in secret – have become increasingly popular ways to trade shares overnight.

Some dark pools, such as Blue Ocean, allow for shares to be traded once US markets close and last year the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a licence for a new Bermuda-based trading platform 24X to offer out-of-hours trading.

Mainstream US stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) have sought to keep pace with the developments by extending trading hours.

The NYSE asked the SEC for permission to extend its trading window outside of its traditional 9:30pm to 4pm time earlier this year.

However any move to extend trading hours is likely to face fierce criticism from conventional fund managers. They use the closing price of shares to set the value of their funds, with trillions of pounds dependent on the closing price.