By Nate Wolf

S&P Global has made its flagship stock index available around the clock, marking another step in the industry-wide move toward trading 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

S&P Global Indices licensed the S&P 500 to trading platform Trade[XYZ] to launch a licensed perpetual derivative contract based on the index. The contracts trade on Hyperliquid, a blockchain ledger available at all times both and in and outside the U.S.

Investors on Trade[XYZ] already held around $3.4 million in long or short positions on the S&P 500 contract as of midday Wednesday. The benchmark was trading down 0.6%.

Perpetual derivatives allow investors to take leveraged positions on an asset without fixed expiry. The new product represents the first S&P 500 perpetual to use S&P's official index data.

Institutions, exchanges, and index providers increasingly have been embracing blockchain-powered, around-the-clock trading as a way to boost volume and adapt to decentralized financial technology. Blockchain networks can operate across national borders at all times, which is why Bitcoin and other digital assets trade freely on weekends and holidays.

"We developed XYZ with a vision of bringing the world's most important markets on-chain," said Collins Belton, chief operating officer at Trade[XYZ]'s parent company. "The S&P 500 is a natural starting point."

Nasdaq earlier this month launched a new design for tokenized equities -- shares or funds digitized to trade on a blockchain ledger. The New York Stock Exchange and its owner Intercontinental Exchange are seeking regulatory approval for their own "tokenized securities platform." And leading brokerages Charles Schwab, Robinhood Markets, and Interactive Brokers now offer 24-hour trading.

Traditional finance players have often stressed the need to bring uniform standards to decentralized networks, which younger consumers tend to trust more than seasoned investors.

"This collaboration expands access and utility of our flagship benchmarks within digital trading environments," said Cameron Drinkwater, chief product & operations Officer at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "We believe digitally-native investors should demand the institutional-quality standards that define our indices."

S&P Global Ratings launched a dedicated decentralized finance group in 2022. The company also has multiple indexes tracking cryptocurrencies and crypto-focused stocks. S&P Global stock fell 0.9% on Wednesday.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 18, 2026 11:58 ET (15:58 GMT)

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