DAX heavyweights such as SAP and Deutsche Telekom welcome the extension of Xetra trading until 10 p.m., which Deutsche Börse has now introduced for private investors. When asked by Börsen-Zeitung, an SAP spokesman said that since the company has been listed on the Frankfurt and New York stock exchanges for several years already, „our shares are traded until 10 p.m. CET anyway.“ SAP has been „organised for a long time in such a way that we also cover the requirements of the US market well“. However, the extension of trading hours remains a decision for the stock exchange.

Telekom, which is also listed on the NYSE, emphasised that measures „leading to greater liquidity in trading and more flexibility in trading hours for capital market participants“ are to be welcomed. However, the DAX-listed company would also like to see institutional investors involved in the long term. Telekom could see „something positive in the proposal – if it were a first step towards a fundamental extension of trading hours for all market participants, including institutional investors. This would enable higher liquidity in securities, even during longer trading hours, which would also benefit private investors, while at the same time preventing higher administrative costs due to the separation of the various order categories into private investors and institutional investors.“

Deutsche Börse has extended Xetra trading hours for private investors to 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. starting on 1 December. In doing so, it is targeting trading on other platforms such as Tradegate, Gettex, Lang & Schwarz and the Stuttgart Stock Exchange. „Retail investors are very important to us on the Xetra platform,“ explains a spokesman for Deutsche Börse. „That is why we are continuing to expand our offering for private investors. Our focus is not only on German investors, but also on European investors.“

Retail orders would be marked. Fourteen brokers – including Comdirect, Consors and ING – and twelve liquidity providers are working with Deutsche Börse. Outside core trading hours, four liquidity providers have so far ensured liquidity for private investors.

At Comdirect, the largest German trading venues for stock exchange trading in October were Tradegate, Gettex and Xetra. „The Frankfurt trading venue is of secondary importance for Comdirect customers, ranking sixth,“ said a Comdirect spokeswoman. „Investors at Flatex prefer to trade shares via Tradegate,“ said a spokesman for the broker. „This accounts for roughly half of the share transactions on our platform. Xetra’s share is currently around 10%.“

Dragan Radanovic, Chief Business Officer of the Stuttgart Stock Exchange, told Börsen-Zeitung that they had „had good experiences with early and late trading, which is being used extensively“. The Stuttgart-based exchange extended its trading hours years ago. Shares can be traded on its trading platform between 7:30 a.m. and 10 p.m. A total of 20% of trading takes place before 9 a.m. and after 5:30 p.m.

The stock exchange also attributes the fact that institutional investors are staying out of extended Xetra trading to a lack of interest on their part. This is corroborated by Union Investment. Christopher Sornberger, Head of Multi Asset Trading in Portfolio Management, believes that extending Xetra trading is of little significance. Meanwhile, Deutsche Börse's international competitors have already announced extended trading hours for all investors, led by NYSE and Nasdaq.

The US stock exchange operators want to implement 22-hour and nearly 24-hour trading respectively from 2026. The London Stock Exchange has so far left it at a rather vague announcement.