Active traders, investors and market enthusiasts, you may recall that the concept of 24-hour trading has been around for some time now but has never truly taken off. It made some traction over a decade ago with the addition of an extended trading window beyond the US equities markets' traditional 9:30 am – 4:00pm session to include a pre- and a post-trading environment, but a true overnight solution for stocks had yet to emerge for stocks.
All that has recently changed, however, and we spoke with the CEO of the company leading that change.
Blue Ocean Technologies has been laser-focused since its inception on overnight trading, a capability which is ultimately benefiting investors globally, active traders who are interested in trading whenever they desire and sophisticated investors who want to trade outside normal US business hours following breaking news or to set themselves up for the following regular New York session.
Equities News had the opportunity to speak with Brian Hyndman, a seasoned capital markets leader, who recently was promoted to CEO of Blue Ocean Technologies (to add to his President title), about why the global-24 hour trading trend is here to stay:
What is Blue Ocean Technologies and what problem are you solving for investors?
Blue Ocean Technologies owns and operates the Blue Ocean ATS (BOATS). BOATS is an alternative trading system that offers trading in US equities from 8:00 pm to 4:00 am ET. BOATS is enabling global investors to manage risk 24 hours per day. In addition BOATS enables Asian investors the ability to trade US stocks during their daytime hours.
How do global investors benefit from Blue Ocean Technologies trading platform?
Global investors can manage risk 24 hours per day, 5 days per week. If there is a geopolitical event on a Sunday evening, investors have the ability to manage their risk and position themselves as desired without waiting for the regular US session to begin.
Why is trading overnight important?
Overnight or 24-hour trading is the future. We no longer need to have someone ring a bell to start the trading. The markets today are electronic.
We noticed you have teamed up with Samsung Securities. Tell us about the partnership.
Samsung Securities had the same vision as Blue Ocean Technologies. It wanted to give Asian retail investors the ability to trade US stocks during their day time hours. Currently, 3 million customers in Korea now have access to BOATS.
Who are your customers?
Our customers are large retail firms like TD Ameritrade and E-Trade. In addition we have some large market makers like Virtu and Jane Street providing liquidity on the platform. We have a full pipeline of retail brokers, market makers and high frequency trading customers.
Is this move towards 24-hour trading sustainable?
It's not just sustainable. It is the future and the norm among other asset-classes. Cryptocurrencies trade 24/7/365, Futures trade 23 hours per day. Why not US Equities, which are among the largest, most liquid and most transparent assets classes in the world?
How does this help individual investors?
It gives retail customers a choice on when to trade, untethered from the regular and even extended hours of the major exchanges.
What stocks are you currently trading?
We are currently trading all 13,000 National Market System stocks in the US.
What other services are you offering currently?
We currently offer trading in the overnight session from 8:00pm to 4:00am ET, but in the future I could envision us offering trading in the entire regular, pre- and post- market sessions, which is 17 ½ hours per day. In addition to trading, we also offer a variety of market data products to help investors trade more efficiently.
How do interested active investors connect to your platform?
We are a regulated ATS and we can only do business directly with FINRA registered broker dealers. Any retail customers who want to get connected should call their broker and ask for access to the Blue Ocean session.
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Source: Equities News
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