ITS extends trading hours: session to open one hour earlier
The international trading platform ITS will move the start of its trading session from 10:00 to 09:00 Astana time (UTC+5) effective April 3, 2026, broadening market access for investors across time zones.
The ITS trading session will run for nearly 19 hours – from 09:00 to 03:45 the following day, Astana time (04:00–22:45 UTC). Trading on ITS opens at the height of the Asian session and closes nearly three hours after the end of the main session on NYSE and Nasdaq.
The extended trading window enhances ITS's appeal as a liquidity hub for investors, market makers and issuers, and is consistent with the strategy of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) to strengthen Kazakhstan's role as a regional financial centre.
For comparison, the main trading sessions at leading global exchanges – excluding pre-market and after-hours trading – run for 6.5 hours on NYSE and Nasdaq (13:30–20:00 UTC), 8.5 hours on the London Stock Exchange (07:00–15:30 UTC) and around 5.5 hours on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, including a lunch break (01:30–08:00 UTC).
At nearly 19 hours, the ITS session spans trading hours across three regions – Asia, Europe and North America – giving market participants significantly more flexibility to manage positions and respond to developments across time zones.
The extended session also supports more continuous price discovery. With prices forming across most of the day, the risk of sharp gaps at the open is reduced and order execution quality improves.
“Today’s investor does not operate on the schedule of a single exchange. We see the demand for around-the-clock market access – and we are building for it. Extending the ITS session is both a strategic choice and a direct response to what investors expect from a truly global platform,” said ITS Chief Executive Officer Kurmet Orazayev.
About ITS
ITS is a trading platform operating under the jurisdiction of the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). ITS offers investors more than 3,200 global market instruments listed in the U.S. and Kazakhstan. Among the unique products co-developed by ITS are exchange-traded funds based on proprietary indexes, as well as the opportunity to trade shares of companies going public before the start of trading in New York.
In 2025, ITS achieved record results: total trading volume exceeded $14 billion, 70 times the 2024 figure. The number of investors with access to trading exceeded 1.2 million. The platform hosts 20 participants from seven countries: Kazakhstan, Armenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan, Oman and South Africa.
ITS clients are professional securities market participants from Kazakhstan and other countries – financial intermediaries accredited or registered with the AIFC. Retail and corporate investors gain access to trading through financial intermediaries – brokers and banks.
ITS Press Service
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