Hong Kong Considers Longer Trading Hours, Starting With Derivatives

Hong Kong is considering longer securities-trading hours, beginning with derivatives, alongside a T+1 settlement cycle and settlement using tokenized money and the digital Hong Kong dollar.

Securities and Futures Commission CEO 梁凤仪 said Oct. 9 that the derivatives market will be the first market to adopt longer trading hours.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing will publish a discussion paper in the fourth quarter on extending trading hours in the spot market. Hong Kong will also shorten its settlement cycle to T+1, with a consultation summary expected shortly.

The longer-hours plan will be supported by settlement using tokenized money and the digital Hong Kong dollar.

A measure introduced a year ago to narrow bid-ask spreads initially covered 300 stocks. The first phase narrowed spreads by 38% and reduced trade-execution time by 26%. Preliminary results from the second phase showed spreads narrowing by about 30%.

The derivatives market will be the first market to adopt longer trading hours, followed by consideration of an extension to Hong Kong’s spot market.