The History of the World's First Stock Exchange

Learn about history of world's first stock exchange created in Amsterdam by Dutch East India Company in 1611. Also learn about NYSE & Euronext.

The History of the World's First Stock Exchange

The first modern stock exchange was created in Amsterdam when the Dutch East India Company was the first publicly traded company. To raise capital, the company decided to sell shares and pay dividends on the shares to investors. This idea was so attractive to investors that other maritime companies from Portugal, Spain and France began to issue shares, which helped the expansion of their colonial companies. Investors turned to the secondary market of the newly built Amsterdam Stock Exchange to sell their shares to third parties.

In 1611, the Amsterdam stock exchange was created and the story of the New York Stock Exchange began with the signing of the Buttonwood Agreement by twenty-four New York City broker-dealers and traders outside 68 Wall Street, under a Buttonwood tree. Initially, five securities were traded in New York City and the first publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange was the Bank of New York. In 1817, the group renamed itself the New York Stock and Exchange Board and moved to number 40 on Wall Street. The world's stock markets serve as a compensation center for investors to come together to buy and sell stocks, and they also serve as a barometer of society's fears and hopes.

Another crash at the same time, the South Sea bubble, inflation and the collapse of the shares of the South Sea Company showed investors the dangers of taking risks. The largest stock exchange organization in Europe is Euronext, a pan-European exchange that operates in seven countries and is headquartered in Amsterdam. Founded by the National Securities Brokers Association, NASDAQ began trading on February 8, 1971, as the world's first electronic stock exchange, with more than 2500 securities. It was incorporated into the International Stock Exchange in 1992 and in 1998 it merged with the United States Stock Exchange.

A stock exchange is a market where you can buy and sell stocks during certain hours of the day. The New York Stock Exchange is a subsidiary of a larger company, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). It is also known as NYSE and is currently the world's largest stock exchange based on market value of shares traded there. The history of NYSE began with the signing of Buttonwood Agreement by twenty-four New York City broker-dealers and traders on May 17, 1792, outside 68 Wall Street, under a Buttonwood tree.

Formerly known as Amsterdam Stock Exchange, it merged on September 22, 2000 with Brussels Stock Exchange and Paris Stock Exchange to form Euronext. Stock markets operate all over the world and serve not only as equity markets but also as a mirror of investors' fears and hopes. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange was founded in 1790 and is now known as NASDAQ. It became the largest trading center for debt and funds, becoming fifth largest stock exchange by market capitalization.

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