South Korea is set to open a round-the-clock foreign exchange market for dollar-won trading starting July 6, a move aimed at boosting the currency's global liquidity and aligning with major financial hubs. The extended hours will allow investors to trade the pair continuously from 9 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. the next day, covering the overlap with London and New York sessions.
Why the shift to 24-hour trading
The current market closes at 3:30 p.m. local time, leaving Korean won exposure largely confined to Asian hours. By extending operations well into the night, regulators hope to attract more international participants and reduce the volatility that often spikes when offshore markets react to news while Seoul is closed. The change also supports the government's broader push to internationalize the won, which has been limited by capital controls and a narrow trading window.
Banks and brokerages have been preparing for months. The Korea Exchange will run the extended session, with settlement handled through the Bank of Korea's real-time gross settlement system. All trades will still settle on a T+2 basis, and the central bank will provide liquidity support during the overnight window to prevent extreme swings.
Who gets to trade overnight
Access isn't automatic. Only institutions that have registered for the extended hours can participate. That includes domestic banks, foreign bank branches in Korea, and brokerages that meet capital and risk-management requirements. Retail investors are not allowed in the overnight session — a restriction meant to limit speculative flows and protect individual traders from the higher volatility that can occur during low-liquidity periods.
Foreign investors, however, can trade through any registered institution. The government has also eased some reporting requirements for offshore participants to make the process less cumbersome.
What the new schedule looks like
The regular day session will continue to run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. KST. The extended session kicks in at 3:30 p.m. and runs until 3:30 a.m. the following day. Between 3:30 a.m. and 9 a.m., the market will be closed — a two‑hour gap for system maintenance and settlement processing. That means the market is open for 21 hours out of every 24, with only a brief daily pause.
On the first trading day, July 6, the extended session will start at 3:30 p.m. as usual, then continue through the night. The next day's regular session will open at 9 a.m. as normal.
The government plans to review the system after six months and may adjust the hours or participant eligibility based on how the market behaves.
