South Korean brokerages will launch round-the-clock trading in US equities on Dec. 6, pairing Nasdaq’s expanded 23-hour schedule with alternative trading venues to provide uninterrupted retail access.

The collective rollout across every domestic securities house follows a four-day buying spree in early November where Korean investors poured $2.20 billion into American equities.

Under the structure assembled by domestic brokerages and the Korea Securities Depository, firms will run Nasdaq’s 23-hour official session and route the remaining hour through alternative trading system Blue Ocean. Trading begins at 9 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, Dec. 6, which translates to 11 a.m. In Seoul on Monday, Dec. 7. The setup also captures exchange-traded funds listed on NYSE Arca, which expands its own operations to 23 hours a day on the same date.

Settlement pipes require coordination across time zones. The Korea Securities Depository instructed Citibank, its local custodian, to increase transaction monitoring and prevent trade breaks, while projecting that longer operating shifts will not lift domestic administrative overheads.

Bringing daytime execution into official exchange tapes alters market depth. Korean retail traders previously accessed US shares during daylight hours through off-exchange alternative systems, primarily Blue Ocean, Bruce, and Moon. Under the overhaul, individual brokerages will pull real-time order books directly from the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq under bilateral commercial agreements, narrowing execution spreads.

Retail demand justifies the engineering expense. Net buying between Nov. 2 and Nov. 96 billion and more than doubling September’s $1 billion total. 42 billion, leaving brokerages little choice but to automate overnight desks.

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