Steve Cohen's Point72 is reportedly backing a startup that wants to give investors 24/7 access to the stock market

• Steve Cohen's firm is backing a startup that wants to give investors 24/7 access to the stock market, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• The company, 24 Exchange, made headlines in October after WSJ learned it was in the process of seeking the SEC's approval.
• Point72 Ventures is leading a $14.25 million funding round for 24 Exchange.

Billionaire Steve Cohen is backing a startup that wants to give investors 24/7 access to the stock market through his early-stage venture capital firm, Point72 Ventures, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

24 Exchange made headlines in October after The WSJ reported it was in the process of seeking the approval of the US Securities and Exchange Commission and had filed an application for a national stock-exchange license.

Now, Point72 Ventures is leading a $14.25 million funding round for 24 Exchange, according to The Journal.

Hedge fund partner Pete Casella told the Journal that 24-hour stock market trading is an immense opportunity that may particularly appeal to retail traders who want to trade after work hours and on weekends. This is precisely the market 24 Exchange seeks to tap.

The trading platform wants to alter the way investors have traded for decades, making the stock market look more like the crypto market, which never closes.

Digital assets trade non-stop, with many of the biggest moves often happening over the weekend. In contrast, traditional stock trading in the US operates from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm ET, Monday through Friday.

The vision for the exchange was crafted by Dmitri Galinov, a 20-year electronic trading veteran, who worked at Credit Suisse and founded FastMatch, a foreign exchange trading venue.

His three-year-old startup, whose parent firm is based in Bermuda, currently offers foreign exchange and cryptocurrency trading.