What is 24X? Inside the Exchange Powering 23/5 Trading
What Is 24X? Inside the Exchange Powering 23/5 Trading
The October 14th launch of 24X National Exchange marks a defining moment in the evolution to 23/5 trading. As the first SEC-approved U.S. national exchange designed to enable near-continuous trading in listed equities, 24X represents a fundamental shift toward a global, always-on market model.
“24X National Exchange’s launch is just the beginning – we’re one major step closer to making 23-hour weekday trading a reality for U.S. equities worldwide,” said Dmitri Galinov, Founder and CEO of 24X, in the official launch announcement.
What is 24X Exchange?
24X Exchange is a U.S. national securities exchange created to close the gap in after-hours access by offering fully regulated trading in U.S.-listed equities beyond traditional market hours. Operating from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET—with plans to expand to a 23-hour, five-day trading cycle—24X brings global investors closer to continuous market access.
As The TRADE reported, 24X went live on October 14, 2025, as the first SEC-approved national exchange offering 23-hour weekday trading in U.S. equities, marking a historic step toward a truly continuous market. Traders Magazine similarly noted 24X’s debut represents “a significant expansion of access and liquidity across time zones,” as the exchange begins with sessions from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET and plans to extend to nearly 24 hours.
To learn more about the vision behind the launch, we spoke with the 24X team. In this blog, we look at what inspired the exchange, how it supports the rise of 23/5 trading, and what continuous access means for global market participants.
Why Was 24X Created?
When many global markets are active, traditional U.S. equity exchanges still operate on limited schedules. For investors in APAC and EMEA, that disconnect creates inefficiency and missed opportunities. Liquidity and price discovery pause overnight in the world’s largest equities market.
According to Yahoo Finance, 24X aims to meet the needs of global investors trading around the clock by “bringing U.S. equities access to Asia and Europe during their local business hours.”
As the 24X team explained, the exchange was created to close that gap by offering “a fully regulated national exchange capable of matching and clearing U.S.-listed equities beyond traditional hours.”
Their goal, they added, is to bring transparency, regulation, and continuous price discovery to after-hours trading. This effort reduces reliance on fragmented alternative trading systems (ATSs) and over-the-counter (OTC) venues. Yet, they still enable true global access to U.S. securities within an exchange environment.
Together, these factors highlight why 24X’s launch is more than an operational expansion. It’s a structural modernization of how and when U.S. markets connect with the rest of the world.
How Is 24X Changing Market Structure?
As the team told us, 24X represents the next step in the evolving U.S. equities trading toward continuous global access. Just as Futures, Foreign Exchange, and Crypto markets operate on near-constant trading cycles, equities are now catching up to the reality of a global investor base that expects liquidity and transparency at all hours.
As technology, clearing infrastructure, and market participation mature, 24X is positioned to expand even further—ultimately supporting 23-hour or even 24/7 trading across asset classes. In the words of Dmitri Galinov, CEO of 24X, “24X bridges today’s fragmented extended hours into a fully regulated, continuous exchange environment,” paving the way for globally synchronized equities markets.
Liquidity Is Moving Beyond Traditional Venues
This movement isn’t happening in isolation. Venues like Bruce ATS, MOON ATS, Blue Ocean ATS and OTC Overnight have already begun extending access to after-hours liquidity, forming a new generation of trading platforms designed to meet 23/5 demand.
According to Ion Group, roughly 50% of U.S. equity volume now trades off-exchange, signaling a clear migration of liquidity away from traditional venues. As this shift accelerates, institutional firms can no longer afford to ignore where liquidity is flowing—or when it’s available. However, it’s important to note that while these ATS and dark-pool venues extend trading hours, they do not carry SEC approval as national securities exchanges. As a result, they do not offer the same regulatory protections to traders that a fully regulated exchange, such as 24X, provides.
Technology and Regulation Are Defining the Next Frontier
For investors and trading firms alike, the rise of 23/5 trading reflects the convergence of global information flow, retail and institutional demand for after-hours access, and the technological maturity required to process continuous data and transactions.
As outlined in Exegy’s Why 24/5 Trading is Rising, the ability to react instantly to global events has become a defining measure of market competitiveness.
However, as is typically the case, regulation has yet to fully catch up with this innovation. Outside standard trading hours (between 9:30 am and 4pm Eastern time), Reg NMS protections do not apply—meaning there are no protected quotes, NBBO, or route-away requirements. In this landscape, 24X’s model introduces new transparency and oversight, operating under full SEC and FINRA supervision to bring the standards of a national securities exchange to extended hours for the first time.
What Technology Powers 24X?
Building a continuous, regulated exchange requires re-engineering every layer of market infrastructure to operate safely beyond traditional hours. According to the 24X team, the exchange leverages modern architecture and a flexible regulatory framework to maintain the same standards of transparency, surveillance, and clearing that govern U.S. markets during the day.
Key Innovations Powering 24X
- Next-generation architecture: Built on MEMX’s “Memoir” matching engine, offering microsecond-level latency, high resiliency, and full redundancy across all sessions.
- Integrated clearing and settlement: Connectivity with DTCC/NSCC through a specialized Universal Trade Capture (UTC) process ensures that trades executed outside traditional hours clear and settle on standard U.S. market cycles.
- Real-time surveillance and data transparency: Integrated Eventus surveillance and proprietary 24X market data feeds deliver Reg SCI-level monitoring and public reporting throughout extended sessions.
These design choices make 24X the first exchange to combine continuous market access with the regulatory and operational rigor of a national securities exchange—setting a new technical benchmark for 23/5 trading in U.S. equities.
How Is 24X Regulated?
While 24X operates under full SEC and FINRA oversight, extended trading sessions still occur outside the framework of Reg NMS protections—leaving firms responsible for execution quality and price discovery.
To mitigate this risk, the exchange’s design and oversight model aligns continuous trading with the same standards of integrity, surveillance, and resiliency that govern U.S. markets during the day.
Regulatory Oversight and Compliance
24X operates with additional considerations specific to its extended trading model.
- Exchange Registration and Rule 19b-4 Filings: All operational and structural features—including extended hours, fee schedules, and incentive programs—are governed by formal SEC filings and approvals.
- Market Integrity and Surveillance: 24X maintains continuous real-time monitoring to ensure compliance with Reg SCI, Reg NMS, Reg SHO, and FINRA CAT reporting across all sessions.
- Member Supervision and Registration: 24X requires all participants to be U.S.-registered broker-dealers and enforces full membership, financial, and operational vetting consistent with FINRA requirements.
Operational Resiliency and Risk Controls
Beyond compliance, 24X engineers the platform to maintain system stability and transparency throughout near-continuous trading windows.
- System Resiliency and Failover: The exchange meets Reg SCI standards for uptime, redundancy, and recovery capabilities essential for 23/5 operation.
- Global Connectivity and Access: Built to serve a worldwide participant base, 24X provides secure, low-latency access through a robust network infrastructure that supports participants across major regions.
- Session Management and Risk Controls: Built-in pre-trade risk checks, kill switches, and order-rate controls apply uniformly across all trading sessions to preserve market stability.
- Data Transparency: Proprietary (“Memoir”) and consolidated data feeds publicly report and make all activity during extended sessions auditable.
Together, these measures ensure that 24X extends the regulatory discipline of U.S. equities markets into the after-hours environment—balancing innovation with oversight as the industry moves toward continuous trading.
What Comes Next for Continuous Trading?
According to the 24X team, global market makers, proprietary trading firms, and U.S. broker-dealers operating across time zones will participate first, routing orders through existing MEMX technology.
APAC and European retail brokers view 24X as the first U.S. equities exchange aligned with their local trading day—enabling execution without time-zone friction. Since launch, the exchange’s global reach has also expanded. Shinhan Securities, a leading Korean financial services firm, recently joined the 24X investor consortium alongside Japan’s Rakuten Securities, underscoring strong APAC demand for U.S. equities access during local trading hours (Pulse News, 2025).
Conclusion
Scaling liquidity will depend on how quickly market participants adapt and how regulators continue evolving frameworks like Reg NMS to support extended sessions. The transition to continuous markets will be gradual, but the direction is clear: 23/5 trading is only a stop on the path to 24/7 access.
Since October 14th, 24X has already made rapid progress toward that vision. The exchange now offers trading across the entire Reg NMS equities universe and began operations with 28 member firms connected on day one, with more finalizing membership.
Readiness to join the 23/5 revolution begins with data. Exegy’s Axiom Market Data-as-a-Service (MDaaS) platform is proactively building feed handlers to support 24X and will increase support based on client demand. Additionally, the platform now covers several extended-hours venues, including Blue Ocean ATS, enabling clients to access, normalize, and act on data from new liquidity centers the moment they go live.
As the industry moves toward true 23/5 markets, firms that invest now in flexible, real-time infrastructure position themselves to lead in the always-on era of trading.
