Traders Magazine Outlook 2026: Jason Wallach, Bruce Markets

By Anna Lyudvig

Read the full article here.

What were the key theme(s) for your business in 2025?

In 2025, the defining theme for our business was the overnight market’s shift from a theoretical extension of the trading day into a viable venue for consistent, high-quality execution. Demand had long existed, particularly among global investors, but participation was limited by concerns around execution quality and whether outcomes could meet core-session standards.

Bruce ATS officially launched in March, and activity accelerated as brokers and platforms gained confidence in predictable fills and execution quality. As participation expanded, volume became more consistent and less episodic. That shift mattered not just for Bruce but for the broader market. It showed that overnight trading can support professional workflows and helped restore confidence among international participants, including the return of Korean traders later in the year. 2025 marked clear proof that overnight trading now functions as real market structure rather than an experimental side channel.

What are your expectations for 2026?

In 2026, we expect overnight trading to enter a more competitive phase with increased investor participation and more market-level competition between venues. According to a joint survey from the DTCC and EY, market participants expect that as much as 10% of U.S. equity volume could trade overnight by 2028, underscoring how quickly extended-hours activity is becoming a material part of the market.

As that growth becomes more visible, the conversation will shift away from access alone and toward execution outcomes. Brokers and platforms will increasingly evaluate overnight venues based on fill quality, predictability and how seamlessly they integrate into existing workflows. Within that environment, we expect Bruce to continue capturing share by focusing on consistent execution and ease of connectivity as overnight participation scales.

What trends are getting underway that people may not know about but will be important?

As overnight trading becomes more established, the focus is starting to move beyond access and toward the infrastructure that will support its next phase of growth. One emerging development is the increased attention on equity-linked tokenization and what it could require from market structure. If these products begin to scale, they will place greater importance on markets that operate continuously and can support real-time activity rather than processes tied to a single trading session.

There’s also growing pressure on data services to become more flexible and easier to integrate as new participants and products come online. As overnight participation broadens, brokers and platforms that lack comprehensive, always-on market data will find it harder to serve clients trading across time zones. These shifts are still taking shape, but they will influence how overnight markets evolve as activity extends further beyond traditional hours.

What are your clients’ pain points and how have they changed from 1 year ago?

A year ago, many overseas retail investors, particularly in Korea, could not trade U.S. equities during their local daytime. Today, those investors can access U.S. stocks overnight, marking a meaningful shift in global retail participation.

As a result, client pain points have moved from basic access to execution quality and ease of integration. Brokers and fintechs now focus on delivering consistent fills and meeting clearer regulatory expectations as overnight trading becomes part of standard workflows. Vendors face similar pressure, as customers increasingly expect overnight U.S. trading and data to be offered as a native capability rather than a custom project.