The London Stock Exchange will open a new venue outside of its regular market hours, a move to offer “near-continuous trading” and better compete with the 24/7 trading offered by alternative platforms.

The new offering, which will be called LSE 24, will operate from 5 p.m. until 7:50 a.m. in London and is expected to be ready for client testing by the end of 2026, according to a statement Tuesday. Exchange-traded products, or ETPs, will be the first tradable assets on the platform expected in the first half of 2027, with equities as a possible next step.

The offering is the latest example of exchanges looking to increase liquidity and attract international capital with round the clock trading. The New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and Cboe have each unveiled proposals to extend trading hours to 23/5, meaning they would only be closed for one hour a day, plus weekends. CME plans 24/7 trading for some crude oil and gold futures contracts.

Hong Kong is considering an extension of equity trading hours to align with most global markets, including a possible after-hours session to catch early U.S. activity, Bloomberg News reported this week.

LSE 24 will provide clients with “greater flexibility beyond traditional trading hours,” as well as enhanced liquidity and market participation, said LSE’s chief executive Julia Hoggett in the statement. It will operate separately from the bourse’s main market, which will continue to operate as usual.

Exchanges have also faced increased competition from derivatives, like contracts for difference, that offer retail investors access to international stocks at any time of day.

The move comes at a tricky time for the 300-year-old exchange. The LSE has struggled to attract new listings, while facing a spree of takeovers that is ultimately shrinking the number of companies listed on the market. It has undertaken a broad range of reforms to attract more companies to the market, but has still faced relatively low investment from the U.K.’s largest financial institutions like pension funds.

The U.K.’s position in the market capitalization of companies listed in the country has also slid in recent years, overtaken by markets in Taiwan, India and Canada.

Initial public offerings has become a particular point of focus for LSE as the venue struggled to attract new listings, culminating in the platform falling out of the top 20 globally in the first nine months of 2025 before a late flurry prompted hopes for a long-awaited recovery in 2026.

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Optimism for that revival has ebbed as some of the most closely watched IPO candidates, including Waterstones Booksellers Ltd., consider delaying their listings until 2027, Bloomberg News reported earlier this month. There has only been sizeable IPO in London so far this year.

With assistance from Charles Capel

Bloomberg.com