Financial markets are beginning to move beyond the traditional opening bell.
While stock exchanges still operate within fixed trading hours, crypto markets run continuously — 24 hours a day, seven days a week
That shift is changing how exchanges, trading infrastructure, and investors think about market access. In an interview with TheStreet Roundtable’s Alp Gasimov, Decibel Foundation’s Brylee Whatley explained why perpetual decentralized exchanges, also known as perp DEXs, could become an important part of that evolution. “What we’re seeing is the evolution across the board as more and more exchanges, more and more even ATSs are looking towards extended market hours,” Whatley said. For many traditional investors, perpetual futures may appear to be just another trading product.
But according to Whatley, the more important shift is the infrastructure behind them — markets designed to operate continuously, settle instantly, and function without traditional intermediaries. Why markets no longer sleep Traditional financial markets have always relied on downtime. When markets close, institutions reconcile trades, review books, settle transactions, and manage operational risk before reopening the next day.