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U.S. Market Hours to Expand Under New Equity-Trading Platform

U.S. Market Hours to Expand Under New Equity-Trading Platform

Blue Ocean Technologies LLC is launching an alternative trading system that lets investors buy and sell equities outside traditional U.S. market hours. 

The New York-based financial-technology company will allow clients worldwide to trade securities 24 hours a day, President and Chief Operating Officer Brian Hyndman said in an interview. The Blue Ocean ATS will facilitate trading with its broker-dealer clients starting Tuesday following a beta-testing period that began in June. 

In the U.S., a typical trading day starts with premarket starting at 4 a.m. in New York, continues during normal market hours from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and ends with after-market trading that lasts until 8 p.m. The company’s “Blue Ocean Session” will give its subscribers the ability to buy and sell from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.

“Now you can manage risk overnight, as news comes out,” Hyndman said in an interview. “We are living in a world when people want what they want, when they want it.”

Founded in 2019, Blue Ocean works with broker-dealers serving both institutional and retail investors. Clients include Virtu Financial Inc., Jane Street and Score Priority Corp., the fintech said. Blue Ocean’s broker-dealer subsidiary and trading system currently trade U.S. National Market System stocks from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. Sunday to Thursday, the company said.

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