Wall Street Never Sleeps
Part of the financial system changes on 7 December. What it means for traders in Australia.
Wednesday 28 October 2026 · 5:00pm AWST / 8:00pm AEDT
On 7 December, part of the financial system changes, and Australians get a front-row seat.
Most changes to the financial system happen quietly, in stages, and most people only notice once they're finished. This one has a date. From Monday 7 December, Nasdaq and NYSE Arca add an overnight session, and US stocks will trade 23 hours a day, five days a week. The new hours land right in the middle of the Australian working day: 10am to 5pm in Perth, 1pm to 8pm in Sydney.
That opens a door. It also opens new ways to get things wrong.
In this live online session, Derek Whitaker, founder of Blu Sky Factory, walks through what's changing and what it means for traders here.
Seeing one stage of the change up close makes the next ones much easier to recognise.
The Federal Reserve announces its next rate decision a few hours after the session ends. Bring your questions: there's open Q&A at the end.
What the evening covers
- What the new 23/5 timetable looks like on an Australian clock
- The fine print most people will miss: limit orders only, 20% price bands, potentially thinner markets, and why stock options don't come along
- Where it's heading next: tokenised shares and the road to 24/7 markets, the next stages already underway
- The ten things Derek wishes he'd known before his first options trade, and why each one matters more in a market that never sleeps