Always-On Markets Will Test More Than Technology

Nasdaq’s latest discussion of 23-hour trading makes one point clear: longer market hours are no longer mainly a question of investor access. They are becoming a test of the financial infrastructure, operating controls and leadership required to keep markets liquid, resilient and trusted when the working day barely closes.

On 25 August 2026, Nasdaq brought together leaders from Digital Asset, Tradeweb and Customers Bank to examine the next phase of always-on markets. The discussion followed regulatory approval for Nasdaq to extend trading to 23 hours a day, five days a week, subject to the wider industry changes needed to support the model.

For employers, this makes digital asset finance recruitment part of a much broader market-structure question. Trading hours can be extended through technology. Maintaining liquidity, moving collateral, funding positions, supervising controls and preserving accountability across those hours require an operating model built for continuity.

The question is no longer whether markets stay open

The direction of travel is established. In April 2026, the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved Nasdaq’s proposal to operate a 23-hour trading day from Monday to Friday. The SEC has also approved work by the National Securities Clearing Corporation to extend clearing availability in support of longer US equity-market hours.

These decisions reflect global demand for access to US markets and the influence of digital-asset markets, where continuous availability has shaped expectations around participation and settlement. They do not make conventional and digital markets identical. Listed securities still depend on regulated venues, clearing infrastructure, settlement arrangements, market surveillance and established investor protections.

That distinction is important. The technical ability to accept an order at almost any hour is only one component of a credible market. The more consequential work sits behind the transaction: price formation, liquidity provision, collateral availability, risk management, post-trade processing and the capacity to intervene when conditions deteriorate.

Nasdaq’s 25 August discussion placed those issues at the centre of the next phase. Its focus was not novelty. It was how a market that operates for longer can retain resilience, integrity and trust.

Liquidity cannot be assumed

Extending access does not automatically extend market depth. Participation outside the established trading day may be uneven across regions, investor groups and securities. Market makers must decide when and where to commit capital. Institutions must determine whether the price available during a quieter period is sufficiently reliable for the size and urgency of a transaction.

This creates a practical challenge. A venue may be open while the surrounding market remains thin. In that environment, spreads, price discovery and the ability to execute larger orders deserve closer attention. The question for exchanges and market participants is therefore not simply how to create more hours, but how to build confidence in those hours.

Nasdaq’s Kevin Kennedy argued that the opportunity could be substantial if the market’s foundations are right. That condition matters. Growth in volume is valuable only when it is supported by robust liquidity, transparent market information and mechanisms capable of protecting orderly trading.

For boards, the implication is that extended hours cannot be treated as a product launch owned by a single commercial or technology function. They change the firm’s exposure to liquidity conditions and require decisions about capital, coverage, escalation and risk appetite across a much longer operating window.

Collateral becomes an always-on operating concern

Longer trading also changes the demands placed on collateral and funding. Positions created outside the conventional day still need to be financed, monitored and settled. Margin requirements may change as markets move. Liquidity must be available where it is needed, including when treasury teams, banking counterparties or supporting market infrastructures are operating with reduced coverage.

Digital assets have made this tension more visible. Continuous markets can generate risk at any hour, while many of the banking, custody and control processes around them still operate to traditional schedules. The result is a gap between market availability and the infrastructure used to fund and govern it.

Closing that gap requires more than faster systems. Firms need clear ownership of intraday liquidity, collateral movement, counterparty exposure and settlement exceptions. They also need thresholds that determine when activity can continue automatically and when a senior decision-maker must intervene.

Technology extends the market; governance keeps it credible

Automation will be central to any market that operates for almost the entire day. Surveillance, reconciliation, collateral optimisation and incident detection cannot depend entirely on manual processes. Artificial intelligence may help firms identify anomalies, prioritise alerts and respond more quickly to changing conditions.

Automation does not remove accountability. It makes the design of accountability more important. Firms must determine who approves models, who can override automated decisions, how exceptions are documented and which executive remains responsible when activity crosses regions and reporting lines.

The same applies to operational resilience. Longer hours reduce the window available for maintenance, reconciliation and controlled recovery. Exchanges, brokers, custodians and infrastructure providers must consider how systems are changed without weakening live operations, and how incidents are contained when there is no long overnight pause.

This is why the language of guardrails, transparency and trust in Nasdaq’s discussion matters. Always-on access will only become institutional infrastructure if market participants believe that standards remain consistent outside the traditional day.

Digital assets are becoming part of market infrastructure

The wider significance is not that every conventional market will adopt the operating model of crypto. It is that digital assets have accelerated expectations around availability, transferability and the use of programmable infrastructure, while regulated markets are determining which elements can be adopted without weakening protection or stability.

Tokenised assets, digital collateral and distributed-ledger settlement could help institutions move value more efficiently across extended hours. They may also introduce new dependencies across networks, custodians, smart-contract controls and legal arrangements. The institutional opportunity lies in connecting those capabilities to the standards of resilience, governance and accountability expected in established finance.

The firms shaping this transition are not simply launching digital products. They are building parts of the financial infrastructure of tomorrow. RecruitBlock’s role is to work alongside those organisations as they build the finance, Legal & Compliance, Growth and Leadership capability required to turn new infrastructure into a credible operating business.

That positioning is deliberately practical. The market does not need another broad claim about transformation. It needs organisations that can connect innovation with the financial disciplines, regulatory responsibilities and commercial leadership on which institutional adoption depends.

Digital asset finance recruitment becomes an infrastructure question

The recruitment-market implication is not simply a need for more people to cover a longer rota. It is a need for leaders and specialists who understand how liquidity, collateral, control and accountability interact across conventional and digital market structures.

CFOs and finance directors may need to assess the capital and operating consequences of extended trading. Treasury leaders must understand intraday liquidity, collateral mobility, counterparty exposure and funding outside conventional banking hours. Financial controllers need close, reconciliation and reporting processes that remain reliable when transaction activity continues across the day.

Legal, compliance and risk leaders must translate a longer operating window into surveillance, conduct, governance and escalation frameworks. Operations leaders need to coordinate live-market coverage with maintenance, resilience and incident management. Senior commercial leaders must be able to distinguish genuine customer demand from activity that is technically possible but economically weak.

Relevant experience may sit across exchanges, clearing, banking, payments, custody, asset management, brokerage and digital assets. The strongest appointments will often be those able to connect disciplines rather than operate within one narrow category. Employers strengthening their crypto finance recruitment or building through London digital-asset recruitment should therefore define the operating problem before defining the title.

Strategic implications for boards

• Define the economic case before extending access. Establish where genuine demand exists and whether liquidity is sufficient to support credible execution.
• Treat collateral and funding as core design questions. Determine how margin, liquidity and counterparty exposure will be managed throughout the extended day.
• Name the accountable executives. Technology may automate decisions, but responsibility for models, overrides, incidents and exceptions must remain clear.
• Design resilience around a market that barely closes. Maintenance, recovery and reconciliation cannot rely on a long overnight window.
• Build across functions. Finance, Legal & Compliance, operations, risk and commercial leadership should shape the model together.

Always-on markets are often presented as an inevitable extension of digital access. Their success is not inevitable. It will depend on whether the institutions involved can preserve liquidity, resilience, integrity and trust across a longer and more complex operating day.

That makes the next phase less about keeping a platform open and more about building the organisation behind it. For exchanges, custodians, payments businesses, tokenisation platforms and market-infrastructure providers, the quality of finance and leadership will be as important as the technology itself.

Sources

• Nasdaq: Kevin Kennedy discusses the next steps for always-on markets, 25 August 2026
• US Securities and Exchange Commission: Order approving Nasdaq’s extended trading-hours proposal, April 2026
• DTCC: SEC order approving NSCC extended-hours changes, 2026
• Financial Times: Wall Street learns to love blockchain, 3 August 2026

This article provides general market commentary and does not constitute legal, regulatory, investment or financial advice.