The History of the World's First Stock Exchanges

This article provides a brief history of some of world's first stock exchanges including Amsterdam Stock Exchange, Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Johannesburg Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange.

The History of the World's First Stock Exchanges

The first modern stock exchange was created in Amsterdam when the Dutch East India Company became 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 issuing shares, which helped the expansion of their colonial companies. This led to the formation of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange in 1611.In 1790, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, originally called the Philadelphia Board of Brokers, was founded.

It quickly became the largest trading center for debt and funds, and is now the fifth largest stock exchange by market capitalization. In 1997, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and the EOE merged, and its front-line index was renamed AEX, after Amsterdam eXchange. Formerly known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, it merged on September 22, 2000 with the Brussels Stock Exchange and the Paris Stock Exchange to form Euronext. The story of the New York Stock Exchange begins 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 1914, the stock exchange moved to a new building on Beursplain 5, next to the old building, where it remains today. Stock markets operate all over the world and serve not only as equity markets, but also as a mirror of the concerns and hopes of investors and society in general. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has acquired the South African Futures Exchange and the South African Bond Exchange, so all of these assets are traded on the JSE.

In November 1998, The Nasdaq-Amex Market Group was created when The National Association of Security Agents announced that The United States Stock Exchange would merge with The National Association of Securities Brokers. The New York Stock Exchange is now a subsidiary of a larger company, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). It is still considered to be one of the world's largest stock exchanges based on market value of shares traded there.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *