CIX launches extended trading hours for Canadian stocks — SkimNews
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- CIX Trading Inc. launched extended trading hours for Canadian stocks starting Monday with an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET window, expanding to 7 a.m.–8 p.m. later this year and eventually 23 hours per day Monday through Friday.
- Founder Jeff Foster, a two-decade TMX Group veteran, said the goal is a "level playing field" to compete with the "smooth customer experience" of U.S. stock trading, crypto, and sports betting, with CIX targeting 1% market share in its first month and 5% by year-end.
- TMX Group controls roughly half of Canadian equity trading and is acquiring Cboe Canada (formerly NEO Exchange), a deal that would push its share to roughly two-thirds; TMX warned the Ontario Securities Commission that CIX's launch "may have profoundly disruptive consequences."
- CIX operates as an alternative trading system on Imperative Execution's IntelligentCross AI matching engine, the largest U.S. ATS by market share since launching in September 2018, with the goal of eventually becoming a full-fledged exchange.
- London Stock Exchange Group announced in July plans for LSE 24 near-continuous Monday-through-Friday trading, with ETF testing beginning later this year and availability planned for the first half of 2027.
- LSEG CEO David Schwimmer, speaking from the company's new Toronto office, said banks and brokers are not driving demand for longer hours and are "not excited about this" due to the added cost of staffing extended sessions.
- Blue Ocean Technologies LLC, a Canadian-backed U.S. fintech, already lets Canadian investors trade U.S. stocks nearly around the clock, the model CIX is now trying to replicate for domestic equities.
Why it matters: CIX faces a steep climb: it needs 2.5% market share before Canadian brokers are obligated to route orders to it, while TMX is simultaneously consolidating to roughly two-thirds of all Canadian equity trading volume through its Cboe Canada acquisition. The five largest Canadian banks all declined to comment, and LSEG's Schwimmer said institutions aren't driving — and won't vote for — this shift.
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