The trading day is getting longer
Nasdaq says the industry's move to a 23-hour trading day is expected on Sunday, December 6, 2026. That depends on the market-data systems being ready and on SEC rule changes. If the SEC approves, Nasdaq will add a 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. Eastern session.1 For an ordinary investor, this means prices could move while you sleep, and you could trade on that news instead of waiting for the morning bell.
The products being traded are also changing. Cboe Global Markets announced on September 30, 2026, at Robinhood's third annual HOOD Summit in Houston, that it plans to launch binary contracts tied to company-specific key performance indicators (KPIs). These are bets on a measurable business figure rather than on a share price. They are expected in October 2026, subject to regulatory approval. Products tied to 23 companies are planned, and Robinhood would be the first retail broker to offer them.2
One caution on sourcing. That announcement reached us through NewsEOD, whose claims have been measured: 54% of 6,584 checked claims held up.2 That is a reasonable record for a news feed, but it is not a guarantee. Treat the plans as plans until the regulatory approvals arrive.
The company at the centre: what Robinhood's filings show
Robinhood is the retail broker named in the Cboe announcement. Its figures below are checked against its SEC filings.
Revenue rose from $1.865 billion in fiscal 2023 to $2.951 billion in fiscal 2024 and $4.473 billion in fiscal 2025.3 That is roughly 2.4 times the 2023 figure in two years, by our own arithmetic on the filed numbers. Profit followed. Robinhood lost $541 million in 2023, earned $1.411 billion in 2024 and $1.883 billion in 2025.3 Earnings per share went from a loss of $0.61 to a profit of $1.56, then $2.05.3
Spending on research and development stayed fairly flat while revenue grew. It was $349 million in 2023, $323 million in 2024 and $355 million in 2025.3 Shareholders' equity, the company's net worth on paper, rose from $6.696 billion to $7.972 billion between 2023 and 2024.3
Cash is less tidy. Robinhood held $5.829 billion in the second quarter of 2023 and $4.261 billion at the end of fiscal 2025. At the second quarter of 2026 it held $5.362 billion.3 Cash fell from the 2023 peak, then recovered over the first half of 2026. Operating cash flow was also uneven: $1.181 billion in 2023, a negative $157 million in 2024, and $1.638 billion in 2025.3 Profit and cash did not move together every year, which is normal for a broker whose customer balances pass through its books.
Where sources disagree. Two records give different values for Robinhood's cash at September 30, 2025. One says $4.331 billion and the other says $4.3 billion, a gap of about $31 million. The more precise figure, $4.331 billion, is the one checked against the SEC filing.3 The gap looks like rounding rather than a real conflict, but we note it because it shows how two reports of the same number can differ.
This is a story about one company's reported results. The dossier does not show how much of that revenue comes from extended hours or event contracts, and neither product has launched yet. We therefore cannot say that always-on trading drove these results. It may help future growth, but nothing here proves it.
AI in commerce: LY Corp's raised guidance
LY Corp is a Japanese group, and the dossier gives no further description of its business. On its second-quarter fiscal 2027 earnings call on November 5, 2026, it raised its full-year guidance for revenue, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted earnings per share and the dividend.4 EBITDA is a measure of operating profit before certain accounting charges. These are the company's own forecasts, not audited results.
Full-year revenue guidance rose from JPY2.24 trillion to JPY2.33 trillion, up 14.8% on the year.4,5 Adjusted EBITDA guidance rose from JPY585 billion to JPY640 billion, up 28.9%.4,5 Adjusted earnings per share guidance went from JPY30 to JPY35, and the annual dividend from JPY11 to JPY12 per share.5 In the quarter itself, revenue grew 11.5% and adjusted EBITDA 20.9%.5
Commerce revenue is forecast at JPY1.06 trillion, with adjusted EBITDA up 33.6%.4 A Strategic Business segment is forecast at JPY160 billion of adjusted EBITDA, up 69.1%.4 The company also expects sustainable double-digit profit growth in the next fiscal year, supported by structural cost reductions and revenue growth from businesses like LYP Premium and LINE Official Account.4
The headline of the source article ties the raise to AI, but the excerpt we hold does not detail the AI-driven conversion gains that the wider story describes.4 We can verify that guidance was raised and by how much. We cannot verify here how much of it AI caused. The source is the same NewsEOD feed noted above.
The trust problem: who is the agent acting for?
If software agents start to buy, pay and trade on people's behalf, merchants and banks need to know who stands behind each one. Baselayer, a San Francisco startup that helps financial institutions verify businesses and assess fraud risk, has raised $35 million to extend its identity technology to AI agents. M13 led the Series A, with Picus Capital participating.6
Jonathan Awad describes the problem this way: "Agents spin up and they spin down. How can you trust this random one-task agent?"6 His warning about the alternative is blunt: "agents will just get blocked everywhere" unless they can show they act for legitimate people or businesses.6 He also says that relationships with financial institutions typically take 12 to 18 months to establish, and large merchant partnerships up to 24.6 He says Baselayer has "essentially streamlined 10 years' worth of selling into two years."6
These are claims by a company about its own business, in an exclusive interview. Crunchbase News, the publisher, has a measured record of 49% of 41 checked claims holding up.6 That is a small sample and a lower rate than the news feed above. We report Baselayer's account as its account and not as an independent finding.
Regulators set the pace
Rules are already shaping behaviour. Coinbase set a three-day deadline tied to the EU's MiCA stablecoin rules. It said it would automatically convert non-compliant stablecoins (USDT, PayPal's and Trump-linked ones) to USDC, and told users not to deposit them after October 30.7 A single deadline forced a large change for customers.
The wider regulatory picture includes CFTC rulemaking, its Utah suit and a 24/7 derivatives roundtable. Our dossier does not hold the primary documents on those, so we do not characterise them here.
What to watch
- Whether the SEC approves the rule changes Nasdaq needs before its December 6 start, and whether the expected date holds.1
- Whether Cboe's KPI contracts receive regulatory approval and launch with Robinhood, as planned.2
- Robinhood's next filings: whether cash stays near the $5.362 billion of Q2 2026, and whether profit keeps pace with revenue.3
- Whether LY Corp's progress against its raised guidance holds up in later quarters.5
- Whether identity checks for AI agents become standard practice, or remain one startup's claim.6
