Award presented at CFA Society Toronto’s 69th Annual Investment Dinner
(L-R) Chris Guthrie, BA, CFA, President and CEO, Hillsdale; Heather Cooke, CFA, Chair, Board of Directors, CFA Society Toronto; Harry Marmer, BBA, MBA, CFA, Executive Vice President, Partner, Hillsdale.
TORONTO, Sept. 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CFA Society Toronto is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2026 Hillsdale Investment Management – CFA Society Toronto Research Award: Gregory W. Eaton, Professor of Personal Financial Management at the University of Georgia; Andriy Shkilko, Professor of Finance and Laurier Research Chair in Financial Markets at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Georgia; and Ingrid M. Werner, Martin and Andrew Murrer Professor in Finance at The Ohio State University and CEPR, UK, recognized for their exceptional research and groundbreaking paper entitled, “Nocturnal Trading.” The winners were announced at CFA Society Toronto’s marquee event, the 69th Annual Investment Dinner, where they were awarded a $15,000 cash prize.
“We congratulate the winners on this well-deserved recognition and commend them for their exceptional research and valuable contributions to the investment community,” said Fred Pinto, CFA, ICD.D, CEO of CFA Society Toronto. “The Hillsdale Investment Management – CFA Society Toronto Research Award celebrates excellence in investment research and helps foster the exchange of ideas and insights that advance the profession and benefit the broader financial community.”
Their detailed analysis and innovative approach made them a clear winner of this prestigious award. “Nocturnal Trading” provides a comprehensive look at the rapidly growing market for overnight equity trading, exploring whether round-the-clock trading gives retail investors greater access and flexibility or exposes them to higher costs and greater risks. The research offers new insights into trading costs, market liquidity, price discovery and the roles of retail and professional investors in this emerging market. With overnight trading becoming increasingly accessible to Canadian investors through platforms offering 24/5 trading in U.S.-listed securities, the study provides valuable insights for investors, dealers and regulators as they consider the opportunities and challenges of extended trading hours.
“The emergence of nocturnal trading in US equities provides additional liquidity outside regular market hours. This winning paper shows that while overnight markets are thinner and heavily retail-driven, they can nevertheless contribute meaningfully to price discovery, and that competition among professional liquidity providers can materially improve market quality. These findings offer important insights into how round-the-clock equity markets may reshape liquidity, execution quality, and price discovery in modern equity markets,” said Chris Guthrie, President and CEO, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.
The Hillsdale Investment Management – CFA Society Toronto Research Award welcomes researchers from around the world to conduct studies on Canadian capital markets. This includes both academic researchers, such as professors and students, as well as practitioners. To ensure high quality, the research papers are evaluated by a panel of CFA® Charterholder investment experts. The award aims to recognize research that aligns with the values and standards upheld by the CFA charter.
Award Recipients’ Reflections:
Gregory W. Eaton, Professor of Personal Financial Management at the University of Georgia: “We are honored that Hillsdale Investment Management and CFA Society Toronto have recognized our research. Nocturnal trading is growing rapidly, yet relatively little is known about how well these markets function. Our paper provides systematic evidence on trading costs, liquidity, and price discovery during the night. This award is particularly meaningful because it indicates that these questions and our findings matter to investment professionals as well as academics.
The Award also gives us an opportunity to share our findings with a broader audience. We are grateful to CFA Society Toronto and Hillsdale Investment Management for supporting research on important changes in financial markets and for helping connect academic research with practitioners.”
Andriy Shkilko, Professor of Finance and Laurier Research Chair in Financial Markets at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Georgia: “We are delighted that this work has been recognized by Hillsdale Investment Management and CFA Society Toronto. Nocturnal trading is a young market, and our paper asks a simple question about it: When individual investors trade during the night hours, are they getting good liquidity, and does their trading produce meaningful price discovery, or is it mainly noise? Recognition from an organization of this standing signals that the question matters to practitioners as well as to us academics.
Awards of this kind do something particularly useful for a research paper. They help us bring the results to a wider audience, including the investors whose decisions the findings speak to most directly. We are grateful to the Award committee for the honor, and to Hillsdale and CFA Society Toronto for supporting research on questions of practical consequence.”
Ingrid M. Werner, Martin and Andrew Murrer Professor in Finance at The Ohio State University and CEPR: “We are thrilled that our research about nocturnal trading is being recognized by Hillsdale Investment Management and CFA Society Toronto. This recognition is extremely important to us as it implies that our research is relevant for practitioners, not just academics. We are always eager to communicate our results to a broader audience, and this award gives us an opportunity to do just that. The award signals the CFA Society Toronto and Hillsdale Investment Management’s commitment to supporting research that is relevant for today’s rapidly developing markets. We are extremely honored to receive this prestigious award.”
The Award judging panel commended the high quality of the award winners’ academic research for being both “actionable” and “Canadian market specific”.
Research Paper Abstract:
We provide the first comprehensive look at the modern overnight equity trading market, which operates between 8:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. Eastern time. Using detailed trading data from across the full overnight session, we examine trading costs, market liquidity, price discovery and the mix of retail and professional participants. We find that overnight trading is highly concentrated among a relatively small number of stocks and is largely driven by retail investors. While trading costs are higher than during regular market hours, they are considerably lower than the costs historically associated with other forms of off-hours trading. We also find that overnight trading contributes meaningfully to price discovery, with trading activity often reflecting information that continues to influence prices into the following day. For most stocks and ETFs, these overnight price movements tend to hold, while a smaller group of highly popular “meme” stocks are more likely to see prices move back after an initial overnight surge. Our findings also show that greater competition among professional market makers can improve trading conditions for investors. Overall, the research provides new insights into the opportunities and risks of overnight trading and offers timely considerations for investors, financial institutions and regulators as access to round-the-clock trading continues to grow.
Click here to read this year’s award-winning research paper.
About Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.
Celebrating over 30 years of investment excellence, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. is an independent, employee-owned and client-aligned investment boutique managing over $12.0 billion on behalf of a select group of institutional and private wealth investors. Hillsdale engages in disciplined active investment management, specializing in equities, alternatives, ESG and customized mandates. Hillsdale is recognized by its clients for investment and service excellence – a reflection of its relentless pursuit of research and development and the dedication of its employees. For more information, please refer to www.hillsdaleinv.com.
About CFA Society Toronto
CFA Society Toronto is the world’s largest Society of CFA® Charterholders, dedicated to supporting the professional and business development of more than 11,500 members. With a focus on education, networking, and thought leadership, CFA Society Toronto empowers finance professionals to excel in a dynamic and competitive global market. Founded in 1936, CFA Society Toronto is a not-for-profit organization affiliated with CFA Institute, the global body that administers the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) curriculum and sets voluntary, ethics-based performance-reporting standards for the investment industry. For more information, visit cfatoronto.ca. For more information visit http://www.cfatoronto.ca or follow us on Twitter @cfatoronto and on LinkedIn CFA Society Toronto.
Chartered Financial Analyst® and CFA® are registered trademarks owned by CFA Institute.
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