The Managed Funds Association proposes securities trading 23 hours a day, five days a week

The Managed Funds Association has urged the SEC and CFTC to phase in extended equity trading hours—starting with a 23-hour, five-day-a-week session—before moving to full 24/7 markets. In a letter to both regulators reported by Bloomberg, the hedge fund and private credit trade group argued that round-the-clock trading requires overhauling post-trade processing, operational practices and supervisory frameworks, not just lengthening exchange hours. The proposal matters because overnight and weekend trading is expanding rapidly across U.S. equities, and the MFA wants market stability and investor protections stress-tested at each step rather than leapfrogging straight to always-on markets. Watch for how the SEC and CFTC respond to the staged approach and whether exchanges and clearing firms align their own extended-hours plans with the association's timeline.