[logicchains]

>WHY???

The exchange wants to make more money, and people want to be able to trade at whatever time they feel like.

[andylynch]

It turns out they don't; they really want to meet their benchmarks, and trade where the liquidity is.

One data point - 40% of the French stock exchange's turnover is now in the closing auction. Other markets have a similar trend. Longer trading hours mean thinner liquidity throughout the day, and the direction of travel in Europe is strongly towards shorter trading hours.

[ashtonkem]

The answer is also “foreigners”. Regular working hours for a German exchange can produce some pretty brutal trading hours for say, London. When I worked in finance they started serving breakfast at IIRC 5am, since some trading desks started their day then and ended around noon. Expanding those hours can entice foreigners to trade during non-insane local hours.

[chmod775]

> Regular working hours for a German exchange can produce some pretty brutal trading hours for say, London.

Berlin and London time are only off by one hour.

You probably meant the US instead of Berlin/London or there is something going on I'm not aware of?

[ashtonkem]

Yes; I picked the time zones out of thin air, and I chose poorly.