Robinhood to Launch 24-Hour Trading on Weekdays in Stocks and ETFs

Users of Robinhood Market's popular app will soon be able to trade shares in the middle of the night according to a story in The Wall Street Journal. Robinhood said that it will offer 24-hour trading of selected stocks and exchange-traded funds, five days a week. The move is part of a growing push in parts of the financial industry to expand trading beyond traditional Wall Street operating hours. The brokerage plans to allow round-the-clock trading between 8 p.m. ET Sunday and 8 p.m. ET Friday in 43 securities.  Robinhood will begin to roll out the feature this week, and all customers are expected to have it by June, the company says. Over time Robinhood plans to make more stocks and ETFs available for overnight trading, Chief Executive Vlad Tenev said. Trading activity is typically thin outside of normal market hours, meaning that relatively small bursts of buying or selling can trigger price swings. As a safeguard, Robinhood customers trading overnight will only be able to place limit orders—in which the investor specifies a maximum price to buy or a minimum price to sell—and not riskier market orders. Robinhood will route customers’ nighttime stock orders to Blue Ocean, a trading platform that runs a special session between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. ET.