CMC Markets Opens Overnight US Session to Fractional Share Orders

CMC Markets has extended its 24/5 US share trading to CMC Invest, its retail investing platform, the London-listed broker said on Thursday. Fractional shares now trade in the same window.

Orders placed in the extended and overnight sessions accept every order type CMC offers, including market orders. In July, CMC widened its 24/5 book to more than 5,000 US shares and ETFs, but CMC Invest clients could only deal in pre- and post-market sessions.

For a UK client, the practical change is that a small order in a US share can be filled outside the New York session at the price on screen, rather than sitting as an instruction that may never trigger. CMC said that combination is unusual among retail brokers selling overnight US access.

CMC Markets: Market Orders Where the Rest of the Market Uses Limits

Robinhood opened the retail overnight session in 2023 with a 24-hour market covering 43 stocks and ETFs on limit orders only. Its client documentation still limits that session to whole-share limit orders and excludes fractional orders.

The constraint is largely a venue one. Blue Ocean ATS, which handles the bulk of US overnight volume, accepts limit orders valid for that session alone. Brokers plugged into it inherit the rule. Interactive Brokers routes about 10,000 US stocks and ETFs into the 8 p.m. to 3:50 a.m. ET window through its own venue with Blue Ocean liquidity behind it.

Fractional Investing Is Two Months Old

CMC introduced fractional shares and ETFs on its UK platform in July, from GBP 1, across ISAs, SIPPs and general investment accounts. That launch came with commission scrapped on UK and European share CFDs, narrowing the pricing gap between investing and leveraged trading inside the same account.

Lachlan Rourke-Davies, senior product manager at CMC Markets, said the pairing lets clients "invest the amount that works for them."

UK rivals have also been stretching the trading day. IG put 110 US stocks on a schedule running from 1 a.m. Monday to 10 p.m. Friday in September 2025, across both its investing and leveraged accounts, up from a 16-hour day. Charles Schwab has since moved more than 1,100 securities, including S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 names, onto a 24/5 schedule for all its US retail clients.

Laurence Booth, global head of markets at CMC Markets, said "US markets don't stop moving when the core session closes."

The release describes investing at 0% commission with other charges applying, and does not itemize them. CMC Invest lists no dealing commission on any of its three plans.

Currency conversion is where a US trade costs money. CMC applies a spread of up to 0.99% on the entry-level Core plan, 0.50% on Plus and 0.39% on Premium, according to its published fee schedule. The two paid tiers also carry monthly subscriptions of up to GBP 6.99 and GBP 10.99. Buying a slice of a US share overnight crosses the same spread a whole share does.

CMC Invest was launched in 2022 to widen group revenue beyond contracts for difference. The parent reported pre-tax profit of GBP 101.3 million for the year to 31 March 2026, up 20% on net operating income of GBP 392.6 million. Guidance for the current year is higher again, and the investing side is where CMC has been adding features to get there.