Oct. 15, 2026
To the Secretary: Please find my comments on the Roundtable on Preparations for 24-Hour Trading (File No. 4-913) below. Secretary Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street NE Washington, DC 20549-1090 Dear Secretary, I'm an undergraduate finance and accounting student at the University of Kentucky and a student portfolio manager in a course where we manage a real-money equity portfolio. The views here are my own. I'm writing about the Commission's work on extended and 24-hour trading. In managing a portfolio, I've seen how much of a stock's move can happen while markets are closed. Earnings, geopolitical news, and macro data often land outside regular hours, and the price adjusts all at once at the open. Longer trading hours would let prices respond to news as it happens, and would help investors outside the U.S. who now trade through thin after-hours systems with wide spreads. I also share the concerns about liquidity. Overnight sessions are likely to have fewer participants, wider spreads, and more volatility, and retail investors are the most exposed to bad fills. I'd urge the Commission to: Phase in the expansion and require the consolidated data feeds (SIPs) to be fully operational overnight before trading begins. Keep protections like limit-order-only requirements in the early overnight sessions, to reduce the risk of poor executions. Require clear disclosure to retail investors about overnight liquidity and price risk. Collect and publish data on spreads, volume, and volatility during the new sessions, and review the rules based on results. Extended hours could improve price discovery and access, but only if investor protections are in place first. Thank you for considering my comments. Respectfully, Mohammad Najarzadegan University of Kentucky, Gatton College of Business and Economics