UPDATE 1-The genie is out: 24-hour trading gaining momentum, Interactive Brokers chairman says
(Adds more quotes from Peterffy in paragraphs 7-8)
By Anirban Sen and Suzanne McGee
NEW YORK, June 5 (Reuters) - Interactive BrokersChairman Thomas Peterffy on Thursday said 24-hourtrading has become more acceptable, calling it a genie that ishard to put back into the bottle, at the Piper Sandler GlobalExchange & Trading Conference.
Global interest in the lucrative U.S. equity market hassurged in recent years, driven by rising retail participation,prompting exchanges and financial firms to seek new methods toexpand access, particularly by extending trading hours.
"Twenty-four hours' trading is obviously very important tomany people in the far Middle and near East, much more so thanin the U.S. or even in Europe," Peterffy said at the conference.
In May, about 2.2% of Interactive Brokers' volume was donein overnight trading, Peterffy said, adding that he expects thenumber to rise to 25% to 30% in the next 20 years.
Interactive Brokers launched overnight trading in November2022, while exchanges like Nasdaq, Cboe Global Marketsand Intercontinental Exchange, the operator ofthe New York Stock Exchange, have announced plans for extendedtrading hours.
Ken Griffin's Citadel Securities had flagged risks of24-hour trading to the Securities and Exchange Commission inApril, highlighting the need for a clear regulatory frameworkand market infrastructure to support its implementation.
Peterffy said IBKR has created a forecast trader to followevent-driven data that can be used to forecast future outcomes,using climate change and weather patterns as an example.
"The climate is under our control, but it is under ourcontrol communally and not individually. So the question is, howto provide the individuals in our society with a tool to be ableto exert great control over these forces in unison in acoordinated manner, while still under their own individualself-determination," said Peterffy.(Additional reporting by Prakhar Srivastava, Arasu KannagiBasil and Ateev Bhandari in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishoreand Lisa Shumaker)