Crypto made markets 24/7. Now Wall Street is catching up

As US exchanges move towards longer trading hours, the bigger challenge is building enough global liquidity and infrastructure to make an always-on market work.New Delhi,Oct 12, 2026 17:05 ISTFor years, crypto has operated on a simple premise: markets do not need to close.Bitcoin trades around the clock, across time zones and competing venues. Now, traditional financial markets are moving in the same direction. Nasdaq and NYSE are preparing to extend US equity trading towards a 235 model, reflecting growing demand from investors who want access to US assets beyond the traditional New York trading day.But extending the trading clock is only one part of building an always-on market.The more difficult question is what happens during those additional hours. Who is trading? Where does the liquidity come from? And what infrastructure supports trading when the traditional financial system is still operating largely around weekday business hours? Binance's experience with traditional-market products offers an early view of what that global, around-the-clock market can look like.THE DEMAND EXISTS OUTSIDE NEW YORK HOURS US equities have offered some form of extended-hours trading for decades. Yet most activity remains concentrated in the regular session.In July, 89.2% of US equity share volume remained within the regular trading session, despite extended-hours access being available. By contrast, 62% of bStocks volume on Binance took place outside regular U.S. trading hours during the same month.The difference is partly structural.Traditional US equity markets remain heavily concentrated around institutional participation, with investors generally gravitating towards the deepest liquidity and established market infrastructure.But global investors do not operate on New York time.NYSE data show overnight trading activity building around Asian market openings and closings. Binance has observed a similar pattern in its on-chain markets, where activity increases as other major markets come online.For a user in Asia, for example, waiting for the US market to open can mean trading late at night or in the early hours of the morning. A market that remains open when that user is awake changes the equation.Crypto has operated this way from the beginning.As Shunyet Jan, Binance's Head of Exchange & Trading, puts it, Bitcoin cannot simply stop trading because one market has gone to sleep. Global competition between crypto venues has naturally pushed the market towards continuous availability.Traditional equities have historically had less pressure to make that transition.That is now changing.LONGER HOURS ARE NOT THE SAME AS 24/7 MARKETSThe move towards 235 trading represents a meaningful expansion of access. But it still leaves a substantial portion of the week uncovered.Under the proposed schedules, US equity markets would remain closed for roughly 53 hours every week, including weekends.That distinction matters because a truly continuous market requires more than an exchange matching orders.Banking, clearing, settlement and other financial infrastructure also have to operate continuously.This is where crypto's market structure is different. Stablecoins can operate 24/7 and support settlement without being tied to traditional banking hours in the same way. That allows trading platforms built on crypto infrastructure to maintain activity through periods when traditional markets are closed.So the difference is not simply whether a market is open for 23 or 24 hours.It is whether the infrastructure around the market can keep functioning when the traditional financial system pauses.BINANCE'S TRADFI MARKET IS ALREADY GLOBALThe growing demand for traditional-market exposure on crypto platforms is visible in trading activity.According to Binance Research, monthly weekend trading volume in perpetuals linked to traditional-market assets across crypto exchanges rose from roughly $4.5 billion to $28 billion by mid-August 2026, with Binance accounting for nearly half of that volume.TradFi-linked perpetuals also accounted for 37% of Binance's perpetuals volume in August to date. In a recent 24-hour snapshot, 10 of the 15 highest-volume contracts were linked to traditional-market assets.This activity is also being driven by a user base that is geographically different from the traditional US equity market.More than 90% of Binance's Direct Stocks and bStocks users come from emerging markets, according to Binance Research.That matters for market structure because these users are not necessarily waiting for Wall Street to open. They are participating from different time zones, bringing demand into periods that have historically been quieter for US assets.The result is a different trading rhythm: one shaped not only by the US market clock, but by the global distribution of users.WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MARKETS CLOSE?The value of an always-on market becomes particularly visible when something important happens after the closing bell.Corporate earnings, macroeconomic developments and geopolitical events do not stop at 4 pm ET. But traditional US equity trading has historically had a defined closing time.Crypto-native TradFi products can continue responding to those events.Binance's TradFi perpetuals, for example, can continue trading after US markets close, allowing prices to adjust as new information emerges.The same principle applies over weekends.Binance Research observed that across seven weekends, the prices of bStocks had already reflected a median 92% of the price movement seen when the underlying stocks reopened on Monday.That does not mean on-chain markets replace the underlying market during normal trading hours. During regular U.S. sessions, traditional exchanges remain substantially larger and can naturally lead price discovery.But once those markets close, the relationship changes.As Jan explains, when US markets are open, larger traditional venues lead price discovery. When they are closed, platforms such as Binance can contribute to determining where prices trade until the underlying market reopens.A BIGGER LIQUIDITY POOL, NOT A ZERO-SUM SHIFTThe development of longer trading hours in traditional markets and the growth of crypto-native TradFi products do not necessarily have to be competing trends.They can be complementary.Traditional exchanges extending their hours creates more opportunities for investors to access US assets directly. Crypto platforms, meanwhile, bring a different layer of participation: users from different geographies, additional trading hours and infrastructure designed for continuous settlement.That can mean incremental participation rather than simply moving existing liquidity from one venue to another.The opportunity is particularly relevant for markets that increasingly have a global investor base. A U.S.-listed company may be headquartered in America, but its investors, customers and market watchers can be spread across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and emerging markets.A market structure built exclusively around New York hours does not fully reflect that reality.THE NEXT MARKET CLOCK IS GLOBALWall Street's move towards 235 trading signals that the traditional market clock is beginning to adapt to a world where investors expect access on their own schedules.But the transition does not end with adding more hours to an exchange calendar.An always-on market requires global liquidity, continuous infrastructure and settlement mechanisms that can function beyond the traditional banking week.Crypto built much of that architecture because it had to.Now, as traditional finance moves towards longer trading windows, the two market structures are beginning to converge. Wall Street is extending its hours, while crypto platforms are bringing traditional-market exposure into an environment designed around global, continuous participation.The result may not be one market replacing another. Instead, the evolution points towards a financial system in which trading hours increasingly reflect when the world is active, rather than when one financial centre is open.Disclaimer: “The material, content, and/or information contained within this impact feature are published strictly for advertorial purposes. T.V. Today Network Limited hereby disclaims any and all responsibility, representation, or endorsement with respect to the accuracy, reliability, or quality of the products and/or services featured or promoted herein. Viewers or consumers are strongly advised to conduct their own due diligence and make independent inquiries before relying on or making any decisions based on the information or claims presented in the impact feature. 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