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Aug 12, 2026
Imagine a grain farmer in Nebraska on a Saturday morning during the summer. Weather forecasts suddenly change, predicting good weather for crops during the growing season across the Corn Belt. At the same time, international news reports that major grain-producing countries are expected to increase their exports. Around the world, market analysts start talking about a downward trend in grain prices.
The farmer starts wondering it might be safer to price grain now while prices are still “high”. But in the United States, the farmer cannot trade corn futures contracts on a Saturday morning. The grain futures market is closed until Sunday evening.
Should that change?
The idea of 24/7 trading
This idea has been around for a while within the futures industry, and last year the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which is the federal agency that regulates U.S. futures markets, asked the public whether futures exchanges should be allowed to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Note that the discussion is not whether futures markets could be open 24/7, but rather whether they should. The technology to keep futures markets operating 24/7 already exists. We have known for a while that this is possible. The real question is whether 24/7 trading would bring benefits to futures markets and their participants or just make them busier.
Are there benefits to 24/7 trading?
Supporters argue that futures markets should never close because we live in a world that has become global and operates across many time zones, a world that never stops and where news comes up 24/7. Weather forecasts are updated every hour. Wars begin unexpectedly. Governments announce trade policies on weekends. Financial crises do not wait until Monday morning. When markets are closed, buyers and sellers cannot immediately adjust their positions to new events.
Continuous trading would allow traders to respond immediately whenever important information becomes available and changes their expectations about future supply and demand. Currently, if important news arrives while markets are closed, prices cannot adjust until trading resumes, which can lead to dramatic price jumps at the reopening. Continuous trading could spread these adjustments over time instead of concentrating them into one large move. In principle, this creates smoother price discovery.
How about hedgers in the agriculture industry? Farmers, grain elevators, ethanol plants, feed manufacturers, exporters, and food companies use futures markets primarily to manage price risk rather than speculate. 24/7 access would allow these businesses to react immediately to unexpected events, i.e. price risk could be managed in real time. For some commercial users, that could make risk management easier and more efficient.
For futures exchanges, more trading hours means more trading and hence more revenues. Remember that futures exchanges are for-profit businesses. They provide a service (i.e. trading platforms) to traders and they charge for it. If markets stay open 24/7, there will potentially be more trading, and this means futures exchanges have a chance to make more money.
Why are some people against this idea?
Critics claim that "always open" futures markets could actually make them more expensive, more volatile, and less useful for market participants.
In general, a market works well if people are actually trading. Simply opening a market does not create liquidity. Instead, liquidity comes from people actively trading. When many buyers and sellers participate actively, markets work well. That is, bid-ask spreads remain narrow, large orders can be executed without dramatically moving prices, and prices reflect the collective knowledge and expectations of many participants.
On the other hand, when there are only a few traders and little activity, the opposite happens. Spreads widen, prices become more volatile, and a relatively small order can move the market significantly. If 24/7 trading creates some periods of little liquidity (say, weekends), then it can bring up all these issues and lead to a less efficient market during those periods.
As we have seen multiple times in the history of futures markets, just because markets are open does not mean that there will be many buyers and sellers actively trading. An open market does not necessarily imply a liquid market.
In addition, 24/7 trading can bring higher overhead costs for hedgers and speculators. If they want to follow futures markets 24/7 and potentially trade at any given time, there will be extra costs associated with staffing and infrastructure. In the agricultural industry, this issue is particularly important because most commercial grain firms, cooperatives, processors, elevators, and producers conduct most of their business during regular working hours, and most of their business partners also work during regular hours.
There are operational questions that need to be carefully considered too. For example, if there is a large price change during the weekend (when banks are closed), will traders receive a margin call right away? Who monitors positions around the clock? Can businesses transfer collateral when banks are closed? Further, on the futures exchange side, could they maintain cybersecurity and system reliability without regular maintenance windows? Would continuous trading make markets more vulnerable to manipulation during thinly traded periods?
What does research say about this?
Academic studies on extended trading sessions (e.g. during the night) reach similar conclusions. Markets certainly incorporate information outside regular trading hours. However, price discovery tends to be more efficient when many participants are actively trading. Researchers have found that, when trading is extended beyond regular business hours, we often see lower trading volume, wider bid-ask spreads, shallower market depth, and greater price volatility.
In sum, research suggests that liquidity matters more than trading hours, i.e. quality matters more than quantity. A well-functioning futures market depends more on the active participation of buyers and sellers than on how many hours it stays open.
But wait, how much of a change in trading hours are we talking about with 24/7 trading?
It turns out that most futures markets are already open for long periods of time on the CME Group. Futures contracts on equity indexes, interest rates, energy commodities (such as crude oil and natural gas), and foreign exchange trade 23 hours a day during the business week. From Sunday evening until Friday afternoon, these markets are open from 5pm until 4pm the next day. They remain closed during the weekend from 4pm on Friday until 5pm on Sunday.
How about agricultural futures markets? Futures contracts on grains (such as corn, soybeans, and wheat) also trade for long hours. Every week, trading starts at 7pm on Sunday evening and ends at 1:15pm on Friday afternoon following this daily schedule: 7pm until 7:45am, then 8:30am to 1:15pm. So, these markets are open for 17 hours and 30 minutes every day between Sunday evening and Friday afternoon. During the weekend, they are closed from 1:15pm on Friday until 7pm on Sunday.
On the other hand, livestock futures contracts (such as live cattle, feeder cattle, and lean hogs) trade for shorter hours and only during regular business times. These markets are open from 8:30am to 1:05pm only, Monday through Friday.
So, do we really need more trading hours?
Many futures markets are already open during long hours, and research shows that, outside regular business hours, they tend to exhibit lower trading activity, poorer market depth, and potential for higher volatility and wider price spreads.
Note that, for many futures markets, 24/7 trading would not make a major difference in terms of trading hours. For the most part, it would create the opportunity to trade at the weekends and a few extra hours during weekdays. Then the question is whether these extra hours would bring more trading activity or simply be thinly traded like we currently see in many overnight trading sessions that already exist.
A market that never closes sounds modern and convenient. But we do not benefit simply because the market is open. We benefit when that market produces reliable prices, provides effective hedging opportunities, and allows risk to be transferred efficiently. At this point, there is no clear evidence that futures markets will do these jobs better if they are open 24/7.
Fabio Mattos
Associate Professor
Department of Agricultural Economics
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
fmattos@unl.edu