The London Stock Exchange wants your trades at 3am
Key Points
- The London Stock Exchange will launch LSE 24, a venue trading 24 hours a day, five days a week, from H1 2027
- LSE 24 will run from 17:00 to 07:50 with a pause of 30 minutes between 18:30 and 19:00
- Exchange traded products, including ETFs, launch first, with equities planned as the next step
- Client testing begins by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval
- The main market keeps its existing 08:00 to 16:30 hours
The London Stock Exchange has announced LSE 24, a new venue that will let investors trade 24 hours a day, five days a week, from the first half of 2027.
The venue will operate from 17h00 to 07h50 each night, Monday to Friday, with a pause of 30 minutes between 18h30 and 19h00 to complete end-of-day processes.
Combined with the main market’s existing 08h00 to 16h30 session, this leaves only a short gap in the trading day. LSE 24 will operate separately from the main market, which keeps its current hours.
The London Stock Exchange said LSE 24 will give investors greater flexibility to respond to market events, access liquidity across time zones and manage risk.
Client testing will start by the end of 2026, and exchange-traded products (ETPs) will launch as the first asset class in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approval. The exchange plans to expand into equities as the next step.
What this means for investors
The first products on LSE 24 will be ETPs, the category that includes the ETFs found in many ISAs and self-invested pensions.
Funds tracking the UK or US stock market sit among the likely early candidates, according to the Financial Times, which reported the exchange will initially offer access to exchange-traded products such as funds tracking the UK or US market.
In practice, this means an investor holding a US tracking ETF could react to a late Wall Street move or an overnight earnings report without waiting for London’s 08h00 open.
Whether retail trading platforms pass this access on to customers, and on what terms, remains an open question, as the exchange has not yet named participating brokers.
The move also targets a specific problem for the exchange. City AM reported that the LSE wants to claw back interest from retail investors lured away by crypto and overseas markets, both of which trade far beyond London’s traditional hours.
Crypto markets never close, and US platforms have steadily extended their own sessions.
Built for robots as much as humans
The exchange designed LSE 24 for digital, algorithmic and agentic trading, where AI agents execute orders on behalf of clients.
The venue will offer native connectivity for agent-based trading, letting clients interact with market data, order management and execution workflows in more automated ways within the controls of a regulated market.
Julia Hoggett, CEO of LSE plc and Head of Digital and Securities Markets at LSEG, said the launch marks an important step in the evolution of the exchange’s markets, providing clients with greater flexibility beyond traditional trading hours.
She added that LSE 24 will support deeper liquidity, greater efficiency and broader participation, reinforcing London’s position as a leading global financial centre.
Subject to regulatory approval, LSE 24 will also use LSEG’s Digital Securities Depository, which the group is building to digitise issuance, settlement and asset servicing.
The venue will draw on central limit order book and request for quote functionality to support price transparency and on demand liquidity.
