Webull Extends Trading Hours, Following Moves by ICE and Cboe

What Happened Webull is rolling out extended trading hours for its users, joining a broader industry shift that's already seen major players like Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent of the NYSE, and Cboe Global Markets push toward longer — and in some cases near round-the-clock — trading windows. The move lets Webull customers place trades well outside the traditional 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET session, giving retail investors more flexibility to react to news, earnings, and global market moves whenever they happen.

Why This Is Happening Now Extended and overnight trading isn't new, but it's gone from a niche feature to a competitive necessity. Big exchanges have been investing in infrastructure to support longer sessions, partly in response to demand from international investors who want U.S. market access during their own business hours, and partly because retail trading apps have trained a generation of investors to expect markets to behave like everything else in their phone — always on. Platforms like Robinhood, Interactive Brokers, and now Webull have all leaned into this by expanding their windows, betting that more trading hours means more engagement and more order flow.

What It Means for You If you're a Webull user, this gives you more room to act on breaking news — an earnings beat, a Fed announcement, a geopolitical shock — without waiting for the opening bell. That can be a real advantage. But extended hours also come with real risks: thinner liquidity, wider bid-ask spreads, and more volatile price swings than you'd see during regular market hours. A stock that looks like a steal at 7 p.m. might behave very differently once the full market opens the next morning.

The Bigger Trend This announcement fits into a larger story: the slow march toward a 24/5 or even 24/7 U.S. stock market. Exchanges and brokers see extended hours as a way to stay competitive with crypto markets, which never close, and with international investors who increasingly want access to U.S. equities on their own schedule. Expect more brokers to follow suit, and expect regulators to keep a close eye on how retail investors handle the added risk that comes with trading when the pros have mostly gone home.

Bottom Line Webull's extended hours expansion is less about one company and more about where the whole market is headed. More access, more flexibility — but also more responsibility for investors to understand what they're getting into before they place that late-night trade.