Asian investors can buy and sell US stocks before Wall Street wakes up after Samsung launches a South Korean trading service

• Investors in Asia will be able to trade US stocks in real time during South Korean business hours.
• Samsung Securities and Blue Ocean Technologies partnered to launch the service this week.

Asian investors are now able to trade US stocks in real time during South Korean trading hours.

Samsung Securities, the brokerage arm of Samsung Group, and Blue Ocean Technologies, a US-based after-hours trading platform, partnered to launch the service this week.

The Blue Ocean Alternative Trading System (ATS) market center gives Asia Pacific-based investors the ability to trade during the local business hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. — before the US trading day commences.

All 8,000 US National Market System (NMS) stocks and exchange-traded products can be bought and sold by Asian investors.

"We are delighted to have officially launched in Asia to facilitate real-time trading access for Korean investors", said Ralph Layman, CEO of Blue Ocean Technologies.

''As of today, the US equity market opens in Seoul," he stated.

Through this service, Samsung Securities clients can trade US stocks for 20 hours and 30 minutes every day. Samsung Securities is the only firm allowing US stock trading during the daytime in South Korea.

"This is the first time in the history of the US markets where Asia Pacific investors, and Korean investors, are going to have the ability to trade US stocks before US investors," said Brian Hyndman, president of Blue Ocean, according to Reuters.

Blue Ocean serves institutional and retail investors in the US who want to trade after-hours and allows for overnight trading for several US brokerages.

Jae-Hoon Sa, the corporate vice president of Samsung Securities, said, "The physical time difference in each country has been a difficult obstacle for investors, and the opening of the service has allowed domestic investors to conveniently trade US stocks during the day when the Korean market opens, completely changing the game for the investing community."