If the closing bell is a long-term business model, then the 24/7 business is an attempt to destroy it. As the NYSE, Nasdaq, CME and Cboe race to produce overnight trading, the question is who stands to gain and who stands to lose.
The answer is very simple, Mati Greenspan, CEO and founder of Quantum Economics, told CoinDesk: “The biggest losers in 24/7 trading will not be the traders: they will gain a lot.
Greenspan, who is also a market expert, said that when the markets reopen after what he called a major event, “a few firms decide on the first price that can be sold. Often, they will clearly use a price that creates a stop loss for their customers, closing them at a loss and making a profit for the seller who is actually selling against the buyer.”
When Greenspan was asked if traders coordinate prices during market closings, he was blunt in his statement: “Yes, outright manipulation.”
“They can actually control prices, often within hours of planning,” he said. Hunting often prevents loss.
His comments come as several major US exchanges look to offer around-the-clock trading services. The NYSE said it is seeking SEC approval for 24/7 trading. Nasdaq announced similar plans in December. CME plans to introduce 24-hour crypto futures in 2026, pending approval, and Cboe recently expanded US index options to 24/5 trading.
‘Reasonable denial’
Although Greenspan’s comments can be seen as accusations, it is not difficult to see why such methods would be prominent in the after-hours market. As regular trading hours come to a close, at 4pm ET, thin liquidity can make prices more susceptible to movement.
“After the closing bell closes, you don’t have the same amount,” said Joe Dente, a floor trader at the New York Stock Exchange. “People are back home and the money is gone, so you’re going to see a lot of expansion.”
He said that broad and very thin books create an environment where price movements can be exaggerated compared to a normal session.
Academic research also supports the idea that extended trading hours are fundamentally different from core market hours. A joint UC Berkeley-University of Rochester quantitative study found that after-hours price discovery is “very inefficient,” citing low volume and thin liquidity that limit the speed at which information is incorporated into prices.
When asked if manipulation was already happening during that period, Dente said “it could,” but added that “a 24-hour trading event will leave things open to manipulation,” referring to conditions already seen in after-hours markets.
Meanwhile, Greenspan noted that these alleged fraudulent practices “are not above board, so [brokers who might be taking part in such actions] tendency to maintain reasonable denial. ”
This is where the line between actual manipulation and evidence that such practices are occurring begins to blur.
SSRN’s much-cited study on price manipulation shows how traders can affect prices during pre-opening auctions by placing and canceling large orders, temporarily pushing the stock away from its original value before the liquidity returns.
Research has found that such manipulation can lead to distorted opening prices that are later corrected once the full market resumes trading, leaving investors who bought at a high price at a loss. Because these recommendations occur before normal trading volume returns, the resulting prices can appear insensitive to market volatility.
However, one trader, familiar with night trading practices and who asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak publicly, said that sometimes the easing of large amounts of money makes it easier for coordinated strategies to influence the prices of highly traded stocks.
And this is not just anecdotal evidence.
Towards the end of 2025, the SEC settled allegations of a multi-year fraud scheme that included misleading orders used to drive prices in scarcely traded securities. Regulators also fined Velox Clearing $1.3 million for failing to detect “layering” and “spoofing” in volatile stocks.
Meanwhile, the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), in its 2026 Annual Regulatory Oversight Report, cited firms for “failing to maintain well-designed systems and controls, including with respect to identifying and reporting potentially fraudulent activity in after-hours trading.”
A win for stores?
Whether it is difficult to determine how widespread these charges are, one thing is certain: if business continues 24/7, retailers will be the ultimate winners, especially retailers.
In today’s electronic markets, traders who respond quickly to market trends have a structural advantage.
“There’s always the possibility that whoever has the fastest computers and the best programmers,” Dente said, noting that algorithms can respond to information and commands “in a nanosecond.” For individual investors, he added, maintaining that momentum is difficult. “How does a human get on with that?”
And responding to these events becomes more difficult for small investors when the market is closed, leaving those traders or small traders at a huge disadvantage.
Pranav Ramesh, head of statistical research for Nasdaq options and co-founder of Leadpoet, said thin markets can increase those risks.
“Dealer coordination can often be seen as industry coordination around distribution and fulfillment processes, especially where a large portion of retail sales result from a limited number of dealers,” he said. “Outside of normal hours, analysis can be more difficult because the market is thin and there is less clear data for investors to value the performance,” Ramesh said.
Sources familiar with broker-dealer management and hedging practices told CoinDesk that the power to set prices in thin periods is real, especially when big news emerges when markets are closed. According to those sources, the coordination around the means of transport, distribution and execution during the extended gaps has been very easy because the retail traders cannot participate.
This is exactly what round-the-clock trading will solve for traders, according to Greenspan, who said that 24/7 markets would destroy the advantages of fintech firms by completely removing the vacuum of the week.
The recent conflict in the Middle East has been a perfect example of how this can open up more business opportunities when the markets remain closed. The decentralized exchange, Hyperliquid, which trades on the blockchain 24/7, has seen increased interest from traders betting on traditional financial assets, including oil and gold, during the weekend, when traditional exchanges are closed.
It has become so popular that the weekly trading results from the platform are above $50 billion, while generating $1.6 million in more than 24 hours, more than the entire Bitcoin blockchain. The platform also included a perpetual S&P 500 contract.
There is no doubt that the major exchanges will also benefit from the trading fees if they open trading 24/7.
Whether round-the-clock trading ends up weakening traders’ influence in setting prices remains to be seen. What is clear is that exchanges and investors will benefit from open markets.
“Traders can react in real time without being at the mercy of broker-dealers,” said Greenspan.
Read more: Bitcoin’s weekly selloff may end with CME’s 24/7 crypto trading move
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