Stock markets that once closed in the afternoon are being redesigned to run almost all day. In the same weeks, the retail brokerage Robinhood reported that its event-contract business grew more than sixfold while its crypto revenue fell by more than half. Those two developments are linked, and regulators are now being pulled into both.1
The headline: a 23-hour trading day is being planned
Nasdaq says the industry's move to a 23-hour trading day is expected on Sunday, December 6, 2026. That date depends on the readiness of the systems that distribute market prices and on SEC rule changes. Subject to SEC approval, Nasdaq will add a session from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. Eastern time.2
Separately, the U.S. derivatives regulator, the CFTC, announced on October 28 that it will host an industry roundtable on December 15. The subject is whether derivatives markets are viable as 24/7 markets.2 Nothing has been decided. Both dates are scheduled steps, not completed changes, and the first still needs approval.
What Robinhood's checked numbers show
Robinhood is the clearest retail example of where this is heading. Its figures come from SEC filings and have been checked against that source. Revenue was $1.865 billion in fiscal 2023, $2.951 billion in 2024 and $4.473 billion in 2025.3 That is about 2.4 times the 2023 level in two years.
Profit turned around even more sharply. The company lost $541 million in 2023, earned $1.411 billion in 2024 and earned $1.883 billion in 2025.3 Earnings per share went from a loss of $0.61 to a profit of $1.56 and then $2.05.3 Cash generated by operations was $1.181 billion in 2023, negative $157 million in 2024, and $1.638 billion in 2025.3 The 2024 dip is a reminder that the path was not smooth.
Stockholders' equity, the company's net worth on paper, rose from $6.696 billion in 2023 to $7.972 billion in 2024.3 The company spent $349 million, $323 million and $355 million on research and development in 2023, 2024 and 2025.3 Spending on technology stayed roughly flat while revenue more than doubled.
The latest quarter: crypto fades, event contracts surge
On October 27, Robinhood reported third-quarter results. Total revenue rose 12% to a record $1.42 billion. Net income fell 14% to $476 million, and diluted earnings per share fell 16% to $0.51, against $0.55 expected.1
The mix changed more than the totals. Crypto revenue fell 55% from a year earlier to $120 million. Event contract revenue rose more than sixfold to $173 million.1 By our arithmetic, event contracts were about 12% of the quarter's revenue, and they now earn more than crypto does. An event contract is a bet-like product that pays out depending on whether a stated outcome happens. Event contracts did not exist in the same form for ordinary savers a few years ago.
The company's cash tells a quieter story. It held $5.829 billion in the second quarter of 2023 and $4.261 billion at the end of fiscal 2025.3 It then rose to $5.012 billion in the first quarter of 2026 and $5.362 billion in the second quarter of 2026.3
Where our sources disagree
Two records of Robinhood's cash on September 30, 2025 differ. One shows $4.331 billion and the other $4.3 billion, a gap of roughly $31 million. The most plausible explanation is rounding, but we cannot confirm that from the data we hold. We use the more precise, SEC-filing-based figure.3
The next product: contracts on company results
On September 30, Cboe announced at Robinhood's HOOD Summit in Houston that it plans to launch binary contracts tied to company-specific key performance indicators (KPIs), expected in October 2026 and subject to regulatory approval. Products tied to 23 companies are planned, and Robinhood will be the first retail broker to offer them.4 Steve Quirk said: "Earnings contracts give retail investors another tool to inform their strategies and offer an even more precise way to trade on anticipated company KPIs."4
A note on reliability: our measurements show that 53% of 6,464 checked claims from this wire source held up.4 That is why we treat the launch as a plan, not a completed event, and why the regulatory approval caveat matters. Our records also list ForecastEx as a supplier to Robinhood.5
Regulators are catching up, unevenly
On October 27, the CFTC sued Utah to block state attempts to shut down CFTC-registered contract markets using state laws. It said it has started legal proceedings against nine other states.2 The dispute is over who has the authority to say what event contracts can be offered.
On the crypto side, Coinbase set a three-day deadline under Europe's MiCA rules. It will automatically convert stablecoins that do not meet the rules to USDC, and it told users not to deposit them after October 30. The list it named includes USDT, PayPal's stablecoin and a Trump-linked one.2 A stablecoin is a digital token meant to hold a steady dollar value.
Also on October 27, Treasury Secretary Bessent said stablecoins and digital assets could reinforce dollar dominance. He said Treasury could coordinate with the SEC and CFTC on crypto rules, and he argued for safeguards against crypto debanking.2 After Brazil's presidential runoff, Brazilian firms bought stablecoins to hedge currency risk. USDT volume on Mercado Bitcoin rose nearly 800%.2 The prediction markets had expected Bolsonaro to win, and he lost.2 That is a useful caution about treating these markets as certain.
AI agents become economic actors, and need identity
As markets move toward always-on operation, software that acts for people is being treated as a financial participant. Baselayer, which helps financial institutions verify businesses and assess fraud risk, raised $35 million to extend its identity technology to AI agents. M13 led the Series A.6
Jonathan Awad explained the problem: "Agents spin up and they spin down. How can you trust this random one-task agent?"6 He also warned that, unless agents can show they act for legitimate people or businesses, "agents will just get blocked everywhere."6 On the sales side, he said relationships with financial institutions typically take 12 to 18 months to establish, and large merchant partnerships up to 24 months.6
An investor's caution points the same way. Sean Jacobsohn of Norwest said: "You don't want AI doing calculations because it is not good at math. There are certain workflows it can handle where it doesn't produce precise numbers. But when you need precision, accuracy and calculations, you can't rely on AI for that."7 The measured reliability of the Crunchbase News material we draw on is 49% of 41 checked claims, so we use these as attributed statements rather than established facts.6
Do you already own this?
Our dossier does not give index-fund weightings for Robinhood, so we cannot say how much of a typical fund it makes up. It does show that Robinhood is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market and is regulated by the SEC.5 That is the main route by which most readers might hold it.
What to watch
- Whether the SEC approves Nasdaq's extra session ahead of the expected December 6 date.2
- The CFTC's December 15 roundtable on 24/7 derivatives.2
- Whether the Cboe and Robinhood KPI contracts launch, and whether event-contract revenue, $173 million last quarter, keeps growing.1,4
- The outcome of the CFTC's case against Utah and its proceedings against nine other states.2
The evidence says more about structure than about winners. It shows that trading hours are lengthening, that retail activity is shifting from crypto to event contracts, and that the rules are still being settled. It does not show that any of these changes will be profitable for ordinary investors.
