There are more than two hundred stock exchanges in the world today, but not all of them have earned universal respect. The world's most influential stock exchanges are located in the USA, Great Britain, Germany, China, and Japan. They are known to every trader and investor and can primarily boast of:
- high capitalization;
- high-quality level of service;
- a large number of financial instruments presented on them.
So, the most famous international stock exchanges:
Table of Contents
- NYSE Euronext (New York Stock Exchange)
- Tokyo Stock Exchange
- London Stock Exchange
- Shanghai Stock Exchange
- Hong Kong Stock Exchange
- Toronto Stock Exchange
- Frankfurt stock exchange
- Swiss Stock Exchange
- Australian Stock Exchange
- Korean Stock Exchange
Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Germany)
This is the oldest stock exchange in the world ranking. The origins of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FWB) date back to the 11th century, the period of trade fairs during the Middle Ages. In 1585, merchants created a stock market in Frankfurt am Main to establish regulated exchange rates for trading purposes. This is considered the founding of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Today FWB is an international stock trading center. This is reflected in the structure of its participants: of the approximately 200 market participants, half come from other countries. The exchange is managed by the exchange holding company Deutsche Borse, which also owns other exchanges in Germany. The FWB has a market capitalization of approximately $1.7 trillion, making it Germany's largest stock exchange.
Trading on FWB takes place on two trading platforms: Xetra and Borse Frankfurt.
Xetra is one of the leading electronic trading platforms in the world, established in 1997, offering trading in shares (about 1000 instruments) and investment funds (over 1800 ETFs) of German companies, exchange traded commodities (ETCs) and notes (ETNs).
Borse Frankfurt specializes in German and international securities. This platform has the widest range of securities and includes 11,500 shares, 29,500 bonds, 1,500 ETFs, 2,800 funds and 1.37 million securities and warrants.
The main index of the FWB is the DAX financial index, consisting of 30 blue chip issuers taken from Xetra - such well-known companies as Volkswagen, Adidas, Daimler (Mercedes), Deutsche Bank, Siemens, Merck, BWM, Allianz and Bayer. The DAX is one of the most traded indices in the world.
A line chart of the DAX index, essentially acting as an indicator of the performance of the FWB exchange:
Trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is held daily, except weekends, from 11:00 to 22:00 Moscow time.
Official website of FWB: https://deutsche-boerse.com
Frankfurt stock exchange
Frankfurter Wertpapierberse is undoubtedly the oldest stock exchange not only in Europe, but throughout the world. It dates back to 1585, when local merchants established a single exchange rate for the currencies that were in use at that time. Today, the platform is famous for the large number of financial instruments presented on it and is second only to the London Stock Exchange in terms of trading volumes. The main stock index is DAX
New York Stock Exchange (USA)
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the world's largest stock exchange with a capitalization exceeding $30 trillion. The exchange was founded on Wall Street through the signing of the Buttonwood Agreement in 1792. Throughout its existence, the NYSE has been distinguished by active trading, so in 1886. the exchange surpassed the milestone of one million shares traded in one day, and by 1997. One billion shares were traded daily on the NYSE.
The NYSE went public in 2005. following consolidation with electronic trading exchange Archipelago. The largest merger in NYSE history was the integration in 2007. with Euronext, Europe's largest stock exchange, which led to the creation of NYSE Euronext. In 2013 The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) acquired ownership of NYSE Euronext, a transaction that led to the separation of the largest exchanges.
What makes the NYSE unique is its history since 1903. The beginning and end of the working day is marked by the ringing of a bell, despite the complete automation of the exchange’s work processes.
The NYSE trades securities of more than 4,200 different issuers, of which about 3,500 are American.
The major NYSE indices include the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P500, NYSE Composite and NYSE US 100 Index.
Line chart of the S&P500 index since its inception:
Trading transactions on the NYSE are conducted daily on weekdays from 16:30 to 23:00 Moscow time.
NYSE corporate website: https://nyse.com/
Read more about US exchanges in the article on our website “US Exchanges - structure and features of the American market.”
London Stock Exchange (UK)
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is the largest in Europe. In 1973 Regional exchanges in England, which arose more than 300 years ago, merged to form the stock exchange of Great Britain and Ireland, receiving the name London Stock Exchange. In 1986 In the UK there was deregulation of financial markets, commonly referred to as the "Big Bang", this shift abolished fixed commissions and the exchange moved to an electronic trading format.
The largest LSE transaction took place in 2007. – merger with Borsa Italiana (Milan Stock Exchange). This merger created the leading diversified exchange group in Europe, the London Stock Exchange or London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). This group now also includes MTS (European fixed income market) and Turquoise (pan-European MTF market).
LSEG operates trading platforms with a wide range of assets and instruments: shares of international companies (issuers from more than 60 countries), ETFs, bonds, derivatives, as well as derivatives market instruments (futures, options on the RTS index). Trading on the LSE is carried out on the Turquoise Derivatives (TQ) platform. The exchange's diversified global business is focused on brokerage services, information services, risk and balance sheet management, and capital formation.
The Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 Index, or 'Footsie', is the dominant index containing the top 100 blue chips on the LSE. Line graph of the index since its inception:
Trading operations on the exchange are carried out from Monday to Friday from 11:00 to 19:30 Moscow time.
LSEG corporate website: https://www.lseg.com/
How to access these exchanges
In order for issuers to access the trading platform, a listing must be completed. This is a set of procedures necessary to include securities in the exchange list. At this stage, control is carried out over their compliance with the conditions and requirements established by the exchange.
An investor can access the trading system through a professional market participant (broker). The latter not only performs an intermediary function in the process of applying for the purchase and sale of shares, but also provides numerous related services.
There is technology for direct, high-speed access to the site (Direct Market Access, DMA). Its use will require significant financial costs from the investor.
Euronext
Euronext is the largest European alliance of exchanges. The Euronext exchange is considered a young exchange despite the fact that its origins date back to the 16th century. It was formed in 2000 as a result of the merger of three large European exchanges - Amsterdam (Euronext Amsterdam), Paris (Euronext Paris) and Brussels (Euronext Brussels).
Euronext is expanding its global presence by merging with many of the largest exchanges in Europe and around the world. A significant event in the history of Euronext was the merger with NYSE (NYSE Euronext). The association existed until 2013. The group also included the Portuguese Stock Exchange (Euronext Lisbon) and the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE), thus Euronext expanded its offerings to include stocks, bonds, derivatives, exchange-traded funds , warrants and certificates, commodities and indices. The latest to join the Euronext group is the Oslo Stock Exchange (Norway) - Oslo Børs (OSEBX). The merger took place in 2021. Oslo Børs is the only regulated stock market in Norway and, at the same time, a world leader in the energy, shipping and maritime sectors.
September 18, 2021 The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has entered into negotiations with Euronext for the sale of the Milan Stock Exchange (Borsa Italiana). The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first half of 2021.
Today, Euronext lists more than 1,500 companies with a total market capitalization of over €4.1 trillion. The leader by capitalization in the Euronext group is Euronext Paris.
Some of Euronext's most notable underlying indices include:
- AEX in Amsterdam (ASML Holding, Unilever, Royal Dutch Shella, Relx, Philips Kon)
- BEL 20 in Brussels.
- CAC 40 in Paris (L'Oreal, Renault and Michelin)
- PSI 20 in Lisbon.
- Euronext 100 is a pan-European blue chip index.
Line chart of the pan-European blue chip index Euronext 100:
Exchange operating hours are 11:00–19:30 Moscow time. Monday through Friday.
Euronext official website: https://euronext.com/.
Brief historical background
The history of the stock exchange business in Russia goes back more than 300 years, and it is natural that the appearance of the stock exchange in St. Petersburg in 1703 is directly related to the activities of Peter the Great, who wanted to see Russia not only strong militarily, but also with the then modern financial system, closely connected with Europe.
Despite the fact that the first Russian exchange was mainly a commodity exchange, the firmly laid foundation of a financial market modeled on the European one made it possible to open a full-fledged exchange platform already in 1839. However, trading in securities on the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange began only in the 1860s, and this event was directly related to the liberal reforms of Alexander the Second and the gradual beginning of the industrialization of Russia.
By 1917, on the territory of the Russian Empire there were 17 full-fledged exchanges for various purposes. There was some resuscitation of the stock exchange business during the NEP years, but that surge in business activity was very short-lived and was not of fundamental importance for the country’s economy, since all the owners were simply destroyed as a class or lumpenized.
The second full-fledged revival of the financial market and exchange platforms as its integral part began in the era of reforms of the 1990s, when in the new Russia the list of Russian stock exchanges consisted of 700 exchange platforms - ranging from currency and commodity to various bills and vouchers.
By the beginning of the 2000s, a natural transformation of the entire Russian financial market took place, and a course was set to bring the exchange infrastructure closer to the level of world standards. By this time there were two main stock exchanges - RTS and MICEX. Actually, initially it was the RTS that was the main trading platform for transactions with securities.
The MICEX was a currency exchange, and the functions of supporting securities trading were secondary for it. However, since mid-2005, there has been a strong influx of foreign and domestic capital into the stock market, and since securities on the MICEX were denominated in rubles, this played a role in making them more attractive to investors.
In 2011, a decision was made (at the highest level of the country's political leadership) to consolidate stock assets on one trading platform, and a single exchange was created - the Moscow Exchange.
Cboe Options Exchange (USA)
Chicago Board of Trade in 1973 approved the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), which is today the world's largest listed options exchange. As part of the 2021 rebranding of holding company Cboe Global Markets, the Chicago Options Exchange has changed its name to Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE).
CBOE operates a hybrid trading system, CBOEdirect, which combines electronic and open market trading. The Chicago Board Options Exchange offers trading in a wide range of products, including options, futures, European and US equities, exchange traded products (ETPs) and exchange traded funds (ETFs), foreign exchange, as well as a number of proprietary products, including options on the S&P 500 (SPX ) and multi-asset volatility products (VIX). Cboe currently accounts for more than 51% of US options trading and 91% of all index options trading.
CBOE is also the creator of the VIX Volatility Index, which is the most widely used indicator for gauging the strength of price movements in the stock market. You can read more about the VIX volatility index in the article “VIX Volatility Index”.
The exchange offers options on stock and sector indices, including the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, Russell indexes, individual FTSE indices, Nasdaq Indexes, MSCI indexes and sector indices, including the 10 sectors that make up the S&P 500.
Exchange opening hours: Monday – Saturday from 17:30 to 0:15 Moscow time.
CBOE official website: https://www.cboe.com/.
Which exchange is the main one in the Russian Federation?
This status is not provided for at the legislative level. There are several stock trading platforms in Russia; each issuer has the right to choose where to place its securities.
The largest exchange in Russia today is the Moscow Exchange. Having absorbed regional sites, it was able to concentrate resources from all over the country.
The MICEX and RTS indices still remain the most important indicators of the Russian stock market.
Bombay Stock Exchange (India)
In 1875 The oldest Asian stock exchange was founded in Mumbai (India). Initially, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was just an informal meeting of stock traders, then stockbrokers formed the first official association known as the Native Share & Stock Brokers Association. Today, BSE is India's leading exchange group and one of the world's significant exchanges.
BSE's activities are diversified in terms of the number and profile of services provided to its clients and participants: capital market services, including clearing, settlements and risk management, investor education. BSE also includes a platform for trading shares of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The Bombay Exchange has Deutsche Bourse and the Singapore Stock Exchange as strategic partners.
In the global ranking of exchanges, BSE is the exchange with the largest number of issuers placing their securities on its trading platforms. The number of listed companies on the BSE exchange platforms is more than 6,000 companies.
Access to the BSE allows investors to trade stocks, currencies, debt instruments, derivatives and mutual funds.
The overall performance of the BSE is measured by the benchmark Sensex index, comprising the 30 largest and most actively traded stocks of the BSE, covering 12 sectors. Line chart of Sensex index since its inception date:
The Bombay Stock Exchange is open on weekdays from 6:15 to 12:30 Moscow time.
BSE Official Website: https://bseindia.com/
Other major world exchange platforms
The JSE Johannesburg Stock Exchange, located in Africa, is considered less large and takes one of the last places in the ranking. Here the assets of companies involved in the extraction of gold and precious stones are traded. It has one important feature - trading is conducted out loud, and only after that the results are recorded using an electronic system.
The Taiwanese stock exchange is also considered the largest stock exchange in the world, but it is just beginning to develop and does not yet have an impact on the global economy. Madrid is the main exchange platform in Spain. Conducts all types of trading, but has not yet achieved high positions in the world rankings.
Australian Stock Exchange (Australia)
The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is the main trading platform in Australia. The ASX's activities date back to the mid-19th century. At that time, in each of the six capitals of the Australian states (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide and Perth) there were separate exchanges, which in 1987. merged into a single group, and in October 1998. The ASX was the first exchange to list its own shares on its market. In 2006 The Australian and Sydney Futures Exchanges were integrated into the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
There are approximately 2,200 listed companies listed on the ASX. These are issuers from various geographic regions and industries. The market capitalization of the exchange's shares is more than $1.5 trillion. About 20 million stock transactions take place on the exchange every month. ASX is the world's largest derivatives market operator and operates Asia's largest and one of the world's largest interest rate derivatives markets.
The ASX offers a wide range of services including securities listing, trading, clearing and settlement across many different asset classes. As one of the world's leading financial exchanges, the ASX plays an important role in global commodity markets.
ASX operates two trading platforms:
- ASX Trade - The platform is a money market trading platform modeled after one of the popular NASDAQ platforms.
- NTP is a platform that allows clients to access products that are traded around the clock.
The premier financial index, the S&P/ASX 200, comprises the 200 most traded blue chip stocks. Index line chart:
The exchange is open daily on weekdays from 01:00 to 09:00 Moscow time.
Corporate website: https://asx.com.au/
TOP 20 largest stock exchanges by capitalization
| Place | Name | Country city | Capitalization, trillion dollars | Number of companies | Age, years |
| 1 | NYSE | New York, USA | 28 | 4.4 thousand | 225 |
| 2 | NASDAQ | New York, USA | 13 | 3.9 thousand | 46 |
| 3 | JPX (Tokyo and Osaka) | Tokyo, Japan | 6,2 | 3.6 thousand | 15 |
| 4 | Shanghai | Shanghai, China | 5 | 1.4 thousand | 27 |
| 5 | Euronext | Eurozone | 4,6 | 1.4 thousand | 17 |
| 6 | London | London, England | 4,6 | 2.1 thousand | 216 |
| 7 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong, China | 4,4 | 2.2 thousand | 126 |
| 8 | Shenzhen | Shenzhen, China | 3,5 | 2.1 thousand | 30 |
| 9 | Frankfurt | Frankfurt, Germany | 2,3 | 509 pcs. | 432 |
| 10 | Bombay | Mumbai, India | 2,3 | 5.7 thousand | 142 |
| 11 | National Exchange of India | Mumbai, India | 2,3 | 1.6 thousand | 25 |
| 12 | TSX Toronto | Toronto, Canada | 2,2 | 1.5 thousand | 156 |
| 13 | Korean | Seoul, South Korea | 1,8 | 2 thousand | 65 |
| 14 | Swiss | Zurich, Switzerland | 1,5 | 262 pcs. | 22 |
| 15 | NASDAQ Nordic | Stockholm, Sweden | 1,5 | 564 pcs. | 14 |
| 16 | Australian Stock Exchange | Sydney, Australia | 1,4 | 2.2 thousand | 30 |
| 17 | JSE Johannesburg | Johannesburg, South Africa | 1,2 | 472 pcs | 129 |
| 18 | Taiwanese | Taipei, Taiwan | 1 | 758 pcs. | 56 |
| 19 | FB Sao Paulo | Sao Paulo, Brazil | 1 | 365 pcs. | 127 |
| 20 | Madrid | Madrid, Spain | 0,9 | 175 pcs. | 186 |
Tokyo Stock Exchange (Japan)
The Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) is a standardized stock market and a subsidiary of the Japan Exchange Group (JPX). Located in Tokyo's financial district, the TSE is the largest stock market in Japan and throughout Asia. The exchange was founded in May 1878. like an open auction exchange mode.
The exchange has more than 3,700 companies with a combined market value of more than $6 trillion. The TSE is operated by the Japan Exchange Group, Inc. (JPX), formed through the integration of the Tokyo Stock Exchange Group and the Osaka Securities Exchange in 2013, and is home to Japan's largest and most prominent giants with a global presence, including Mazda , Sony Corporation, Mitsubishi, Honda, Softbank and Toyota. In 2021 JPX expanded its commodity derivatives trading business with the acquisition of Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc.
For market participants, the TSE is quite complex - it consists of three sections: the first includes companies with the largest capitalization, the second includes mid-cap companies, and the third (Mothers section) includes fast-growing companies and industries.
Main TSE indices:
- NIKKEI 225 - includes the 225 most actively traded companies in the first section of the TSE.
- TOPIX - includes the 100 largest companies by market capitalization from the first section of the TSE. TOPIX is complemented by sub-indices of 33 industrial sectors.
NIKKEI 225 index chart:
Exchange opening hours: morning session - from 3:00 to 5:30 Moscow time, afternoon session - from 6:30 to 9:00 Moscow time.
Official website of the Japan Exchange Group https://www.jpx.co.jp/english/
NASDAQ
NASDAQ specializes in trading shares of IT companies
Location - New York, USA. Capitalization level – $6.8 trillion. Founded in 1971. Specializes in trading shares of high-tech companies (software, electronics manufacturing, etc.). As of 2021, shares of more than 3,500 different companies are traded here, including Russian ones.
Toronto Stock Exchange (Canada)
The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) originated from the Brokers' Association in 1852. It is Canada's most important exchange and is operated by TMX Group, a Canadian financial services company formed by the merger of Canada's largest stock exchanges and venture capital exchanges.
In the world ranking, TSX is the exchange with the maximum number of quoted securities. The securities of many commodity and financial companies have traditionally been placed on Canadian exchanges. The TSX is the third largest exchange in North America by capitalization, second only to the NYSE and Nasdaq. The exchange's traded instruments include company shares, investment trusts and exchange-traded funds, as well as fixed income securities, commodities, futures, options and other instruments. All transactions take place in Canadian dollars. Trading takes place on the TMX Quantum XA trading platform. The TSX is unique in that it lists the largest number of mining and oil and gas companies.
There are more than 1,500 companies listed on the TSX, including Canada's largest energy company Suncor Energy, Canada's largest bank Royal Bank of Canada and Canadian National Railway. More than 2,000 other smaller companies are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, known as the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V).
The S&P/TSX Composite Index tracks the value of the 60 largest stocks on the TSX, which account for 70% of total volume on the exchange. Index line chart:
Trading on the exchange takes place from Monday to Friday from 17:30 to 00:00 in winter time and from 16:30 to 23:00 in summer time (Moscow time).
TSX corporate website: https://www.tsx.com/
NASDAQ, New York
The name of this American exchange in Russian transcription sounds like “Nasdak”, and initially provided only information services.
Over time, they began to conduct trading, and then grew into the largest player in the securities market.
It began its work on the securities market in early February 1971, and at the present stage it trades shares of more than 3,200 companies. In particular, two large companies from Russia use the services of the exchange.
3
Stock Exchange of Sao Paulo (Brazil)
The Sao Paulo Stock Exchange (Brasil Bolsa Balcao - SAO) is the largest stock exchange in Latin America (70% of all trading in the region) and the fourth largest market capitalization in all of America. It was founded in 1890. SAO was formerly known as Bovespa, merged with the Brazilian Commodity and Futures Exchange in 2008, and is now abbreviated B3, with the three B's standing for Brazil, Bolsa, Balcao.
The SAO exchange offers a wide range of securities - commodity and currency futures, gold futures, ETFs, government bonds, shares, depositary receipts, etc. More than 450 companies are listed on the B3 exchange.
The main index of B3 shares is the Indice Bovespa Index (Ibovespa). The index lists important companies in the Brazilian capital market. Ibovespa consists of stocks and shares of companies (18 companies) listed on B3 that meet the criteria described in its methodology. Its index accounts for about 80% of the number of transactions and financial volume of the capital markets. Line chart of an index as an indicator of stock exchange performance:
The SAO exchange is open from Monday to Friday from 16:00 to 23:30 Moscow time.
Exchange corporate website: https://www.b3.com.br/
Ratings of world exchanges
In our article we looked at the TOP 10 world exchanges. Each of them is among the leaders in one or another indicator. Now let’s look at the ratings of all world exchanges according to three main criteria: capitalization, the number of listed companies, and the size of trading turnover.
Capitalization
– the market value of all shares traded on the stock market. World stock market at the end of October 2021 was estimated at $93.25 trillion. Two-thirds of the world market capitalization is formed by 6 exchanges: the American NYSE and Nasdaq, the Asian Shanghai Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and the alliance of European exchanges Euronext. If the market value of all exchanges in the world is taken as 100%, then visually the contribution of all exchanges to the overall result will be as follows:
Number of listed companies.
Essentially, this is the number of companies registered on the stock exchange and placing their financial instruments on it.
Trade turnover
– financial assessment of all market transactions for a certain period of time. This indicator is determined by both the listing volume (1 indicator) and the activity of market participants. The value of the first and second parameters indirectly indicates the attractiveness of the trading platform for investors. As a rule, the leading ranking positions for these two indicators are formed by an identical list of stock exchanges.
The table below shows the list of 10 stock exchanges with the highest trading volume for the 10 months of 2021 (January-October). And, for reference, the number of companies whose instruments are presented on trading platforms is indicated.
The rating list is almost identical to the rating by capitalization. These are the exchanges of the world's leading economies, which generally determine the temperature of the entire global economy and the global stock market. It is the indicators and multipliers of these exchanges that are under the close attention of far-sighted investors. We will talk about this separately in our subsequent articles.
Where is the Moscow Exchange?
This is the question that all honest people ask the Bolsheviks. Well, let's find out.
Our domestic pillar of the stock market ranks modestly 22nd in the world in terms of capitalization ($621 billion) and number of companies. However, I am far from making any accusatory attacks against her, because it is no secret to anyone how many years it took to restore stock trading in Russia. What has been destroyed for a long time cannot be built in a day or two. On the other hand, even the exchange of tiny Taiwan is 1.5 times larger than the MICEX.
But, I do not lose hope one day to see our exchange among the world leaders.
