Exchange heads debate fragmentation effect of move to 24/7

Speaking at the FIA International Derivatives Expo (IDX) in London on Tuesday, Corentine Poilvet-Clediere, chief executive of LCH SA, said the debate should focus on the quality of trading rather than the length of the trading day.

"The question for us that arises is not whether technology can do 24/7 trading," she said on the panel. "The question for us is whether we can extend the quality of the market.

"I would take four more hours with actual high-quality market rather than 24/7 fragility. We need to progressively extend the hours based on price reliability and liquidity."

Market infrastructure challenges

Robbert Booij, chief executive of Eurex, said exchanges must consider the operational implications of continuous trading.

"Our overnight batch process takes just 10 minutes, so that's just a coffee break in the eyes of a trader," Booij said on the panel. "But if you look at the amount of volumes we are getting in the overnight hours, which we're currently offering for our key flagship contracts, then that is relatively small...

"I think you need to understand the consequences and reconcile what you're doing with the actual business case and the value that we're adding."

Simon Gallagher, chief executive of Euronext London and member of the managing board of Euronext, also urged caution.

"We've got to be very pragmatic," Gallagher said on the panel. "There could be a very wide bifurcation of market between retail and market makers on one side wanting 24/7 and maybe an institutional market on the other side."

Customer demand

Chris Rhodes, president of ICE Futures Europe, said exchanges should respond to customer demand rather than pursue longer hours for their own sake.

"I would note, for many of the FMIs here, we're already operating 22/5 markets anyway, so the leap to 24 or even potentially the weekend isn't as big as it sounds," Rhodes said on the panel. "But like all things, you're customer-led.

"You always need liquidity, but you always need users, so you need to balance those two things in order to deliver something that's really valuable to the industry."

Also on Tuesday, ICE and Eurex signaled a push into ‘economic indicator’ contracts at IDX 2026.

FIA’s president and CEO, Walt Lukken, opened the 2026 IDX event on Tuesday by saying that the shift towards 24/7 trading is driven by crypto exchanges, changing retail participation and advancement in market technology.