Against a backdrop of economic and geopolitical uncertainties, the global financial community is witnessing a shift in how investors approach risk and opportunity. The traditional stock market trading day (9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time) is adapting to a new standard: 24-hour trading and around-the-clock risk management.
Consider an investor who is alerted to a significant policy change or economic event outside of regular trading hours. Historically, they would have had to wait until the markets reopened to act. Today, the scenario is different. CME Group's Equity futures and options markets are active nearly 24 hours a day, providing a critical tool for investors and institutions to respond to market shifts as they occur.
"Clients want to react to news flow immediately," said Paul Woolman, Global Head of Equity Products at CME Group. "Historically, they would hold on to their options risk and wait for hours before trading again. I think clients learned they just can't afford to do that."
Real-Time Reactions to Market Events
The importance of real-time risk management has never been more evident than in recent market-moving events.
On April 2, 2025, financial markets experienced heightened volatility following President Trump's announcement of broad tariffs on U.S. trading partners. The subsequent days saw a ripple effect across global markets, with the Nasdaq Composite descending into bear market territory, marking a decline of over 20% from its February peak.
The market's volatility continued on April 9, when President Trump announced a 90-day delay in tariffs for most countries. U.S. stocks surged in response, with the Nasdaq up 12%, the S&P 500 up 9.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 7.9%. But stocks continued to rise and fall throughout April, as investors grappled with the implications of U.S. trade policy.
Imanol Urquizu, Head of Derivatives at Santander Asset Management, emphasized the significance of real-time response. "Listed futures are a crucial tool for investors to manage risk before the official U.S. trading session. Anyone who has traded during a U.S. election night or woken up to negative news from Asia knows the experience—traders react in real-time through listed E-mini S&P futures."
CME Group saw four of its top ten non-U.S. hours equity volume records in the week following the 90-day tariff pause, with an all-time record of more than 5.3 million futures and options contracts traded on April 11.
The surge in U.S. equity market volatility is also fueling a notable increase in Equity options trading. This trend is especially evident during non-U.S. hours, where options volume has grown steadily year over year. This growth underscores the reliance on CME Group as a critical platform for managing overnight risk.
Hedging Around Earnings
In January, the AI landscape underwent a dramatic shift when Chinese company DeepSeek announced a major breakthrough. This development had significant implications for the tech giants that had been driving market gains over the past year. Many investors were caught off guard and had to quickly reassess the competitive landscape. This was particularly evident during the tech sell-off on January 27, 2025, when CME Group experienced a significant surge in overnight trading volumes, surpassing those seen during the March 2023 SVB regional banking crisis.
Protecting portfolios against the volatility of earnings announcements is a crucial strategy for market participants, particularly for companies that disclose their results after regular trading hours.
On January 29, 2025, when Meta, Microsoft and Tesla released their earnings, E-mini S&P 500 futures trading volume surged 53% between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. ET, compared to the 2024 average.
Similarly, on February 26, 2025, following Nvidia’s earnings report, E-mini S&P 500 futures trading volumes increased by 43% between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. ET, compared to the 2024 average. Nasdaq futures volume also increased by 107% during the same hour.
These spikes in futures trading activity suggest a growing trend among investors to utilize futures as a means to promptly respond to incoming data, rather than waiting for the next U.S. cash market open.
The Data Speaks Volumes
The call for 24-hour stock trading is not novel, and the infrastructure for continuous trading is already in place. Futures markets have historically acted as the around-the-clock platform for equity trading, with institutional investors using futures to hedge and manage portfolios outside of standard equity market hours.
"Market-moving news never stops, with new developments and financial results emerging at all hours,” said Woolman. "Futures markets provide the immediacy and liquidity investors need. Our commitment is to serve our clients wherever they are and whenever they need us."
OpenMarkets is an online magazine and blog focused on global markets and economic trends. It combines feature articles, news briefs and videos with contributions from leaders in business, finance and economics in an interactive forum designed to foster conversation around the issues and ideas shaping our industry.
All examples are hypothetical interpretations of situations and are used for explanation purposes only. The views expressed in OpenMarkets articles reflect solely those of their respective authors and not necessarily those of CME Group or its affiliated institutions. OpenMarkets and the information herein should not be considered investment advice or the results of actual market experience. Neither futures trading nor swaps trading are suitable for all investors, and each involves the risk of loss. Swaps trading should only be undertaken by investors who are Eligible Contract Participants (ECPs) within the meaning of Section 1a(18) of the Commodity Exchange Act. Futures and swaps each are leveraged investments and, because only a percentage of a contract’s value is required to trade, it is possible to lose more than the amount of money deposited for either a futures or swaps position. Therefore, traders should only use funds that they can afford to lose without affecting their lifestyles and only a portion of those funds should be devoted to any one trade because traders cannot expect to profit on every trade. BrokerTec Americas LLC (“BAL”) is a registered broker-dealer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (www.FINRA.org), and is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (www.SIPC.org). BAL does not provide services to private or retail customers.. In the United Kingdom, BrokerTec Europe Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. CME Amsterdam B.V. is regulated in the Netherlands by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) (www.AFM.nl). CME Investment Firm B.V. is also incorporated in the Netherlands and regulated by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), as well as the Central Bank of the Netherlands (DNB).
