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An exchange, bourse (), trading exchange or trading venue is an organized
market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...
where (especially)
tradable securities Liquid tradable securities (or LTS) is a generic phrase for a wide range of financial instruments. It often differentiates financial instruments that are easily tradable (or tradeable) as opposed to those that require the permission of the company ...
,
commodities In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. Th ...
,
foreign exchange The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. By trading volume, it i ...
,
futures Futures may mean: Finance *Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract *Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded *''Modern Trader'', formerly Futures, an American finance magazine Music * ''Futures' ...
, and options contracts are bought and sold.


History


12th century: Brokers on the Grand Bridge, France

In the twelfth century, foreign exchange dealers in
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
were responsible for controlling and regulating the debts of agricultural communities on behalf of banks. These were actually the first brokers. They met on the Grand Bridge in Paris, the current Pont au Change. It takes its name from the forex brokers.


13th century: ''Huis ter Beurze'', Belgium

The term ''bourse'' is related to the 13th-century inn named "'' Huis ter Beurze''" owned by family in
Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...
,
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
, where traders and foreign merchants from across Europe, especially the Italian Republics of
Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...
,
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
and
Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
, conducted business in the late medieval period. The building, which was established by Robert van der Beurze as a hostelry, had operated from 1285. Its managers became famous for offering judicious financial advice to the traders and merchants who frequented the building. This service became known as the "Beurze Purse" which is the basis of ''bourse'', meaning an organized place of exchange. Eventually, the building became solely a place for trading in commodities. During the 18th century, the façade of the ''Huis ter Beurze'' was rebuilt with a wide frontage of
pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...
s. However, in 1947 it was restored to its original medieval appearance.


13th century–17th century: Italian city-states, Belgium and the Netherlands

In the thirteenth century, the Lombard bankers were the first to share state claims in Pisa, Genoa, and Florence. In 1409, the phenomenon was institutionalized by the creation of the Exchange Bruges. It was quickly followed by others, in Flanders and neighboring countries (
Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...
and
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
). It is still in Belgium and the first building designed to house a scholarship was built in
Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
. The first scholarship organized in France was born in Lyon in 1540. The
Amsterdam Stock Exchange Euronext Amsterdam is a stock exchange based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Formerly known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (), it merged on 22 September 2000 with the Brussels Stock Exchange and the Paris Stock Exchange to form Euronext. The ...
is considered the oldest "modern" securities market in the world. The first documented crash took place in the
Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...
in 1636. The prices of tulip bulbs reaching excessively high levels, known as the
Tulip mania Tulip mania () was a period during the Dutch Golden Age when contract prices for some bulbs of the recently introduced and fashionable tulip reached extraordinarily high levels. The major acceleration started in 1634 and then dramatically co ...
. The price collapsed on 1 October. In the seventeenth century, the Dutch were the first to use the stock market to finance companies. The first company to issue stocks and bonds was the
Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...
, introduced in 1602.


17th century: England and France

The
London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
started operating and listing shares and bonds in 1688. The
Paris Stock Exchange Euronext Paris, formerly known as the Paris Bourse (), is a regulated securities trading venue in France. It is Europe's second largest stock exchange by market capitalization, behind the London Stock Exchange, as of December 2023. As of 2022, th ...
was founded in 1724. In 1774, the courts required that it be shouted to improve the transparency of operations.


Contemporary history

In the nineteenth century, the industrial revolution enabled rapid development of stock markets, driven by the significant capital requirements for the finance industry and transport. Since the computer revolution of the 1970s, there has been a dematerialization of securities traded on the stock exchange. In 1971,
Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...
became the world's first electronic stock market. In France, the dematerialization was effective from 5 November 1984. The development of information technology during the late part of the 20th century led to a new type of electronic exchange that replaced the more traditional physical markets. This led to new definitions in
financial regulation Financial regulation is a broad set of policies that apply to the financial sector in most jurisdictions, justified by two main features of finance: systemic risk, which implies that the failure of financial firms involves public interest consi ...
s that recognized these new exchanges, such as the
multilateral trading facility A multilateral trading facility (MTF) is a European Union regulatory term for a self-regulated financial trading venue. These are alternatives to the traditional stock exchanges where a market is made in securities, typically using electronic ...
in Europe and
alternative trading system Alternative trading system (ATS) is a US and Canadian regulatory term for a non-exchange trading venue that matches buyers and sellers to find counterparties for transactions. Alternative trading systems are typically regulated as broker-dealers r ...
in the United States. Regulators also started using the term ''trading venue'' to describe the wider definition which encompasses both traditional exchanges and electronic exchanges.


Description

Exchanges bring together brokers and dealers who buy and sell these objects. These various
financial instrument Financial instruments are monetary contracts between parties. They can be created, traded, modified and settled. They can be cash (currency), evidence of an ownership, interest in an entity or a contractual right to receive or deliver in the form ...
s can typically be sold either through the exchange, typically with the benefit of a
clearing house Clearing house or Clearinghouse may refer to: Banking and finance * Clearing house (finance) * Automated clearing house * ACH Network, an electronic network for financial transactions in the U.S. * Bankers' clearing house * Cheque clearing * Cl ...
to reduce
settlement risk Settlement risk, also known as delivery risk or counterparty risk, is the risk that a counterparty (or intermediary agent) fails to deliver a security or its value in cash as per agreement when the security was traded after the other counterpart ...
. Exchanges can be subdivided: * By objects sold: **
Stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for ...
or securities exchangeStock Exchanges are the most publicly recognized places for buying and selling shares. They are easily the single most important component of the secondary market for corporate shares
Over-the-Counter Options
. About.com.
**
Commodities exchange A commodities exchange is an exchange, or market, where various commodities are traded. Most commodity markets around the world trade in agricultural products and other raw materials (like wheat, barley, sugar, maize, cotton, cocoa, coffee, ...
**
Foreign exchange market The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. By trading volume, ...
– is rare today in the form of a specialized institution * By type of trade: ** Classical exchange – for spot trades **
Futures exchange A futures exchange or futures market is a central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts defined by the exchange. Futures contracts are derivatives contracts to buy or sell specific quantities of a commodity or ...
or futures and options exchange – for derivatives In practice, futures exchanges are usually commodity exchanges, i.e., all derivatives, including financial derivatives, are usually traded at commodity exchanges. This has historical reasons: the first exchanges were stock exchanges. In the 19th century, exchanges were opened to trade
forward contract In finance, a forward contract, or simply a forward, is a non-standardized contract between two parties to buy or sell an asset at a specified future time at a price agreed on in the contract, making it a type of derivative instrument.John C Hu ...
s on
commodities In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them. Th ...
. Exchange-traded forward contracts are called
futures contract In finance, a futures contract (sometimes called futures) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The item tr ...
s. These "
commodity exchanges A commodities exchange is an exchange, or market, where various commodities are traded. Most commodity markets around the world trade in agricultural products and other raw materials (like wheat, barley, sugar, maize, cotton, cocoa, coffee, ...
" later started offering future contracts on other products, such as interest rates and shares, as well as options contracts; now they are generally known as
futures exchange A futures exchange or futures market is a central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts defined by the exchange. Futures contracts are derivatives contracts to buy or sell specific quantities of a commodity or ...
s. For details, see: *
Stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for ...
( securities exchange),
List of stock exchanges A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
, :Stock exchanges * Commodity exchange (
futures exchange A futures exchange or futures market is a central financial exchange where people can trade standardized futures contracts defined by the exchange. Futures contracts are derivatives contracts to buy or sell specific quantities of a commodity or ...
),
List of futures exchanges This is a list of notable futures exchanges. Those stock exchanges that also offer trading in futures contracts besides trading in securities are listed both here and the list of stock exchanges. Major derivatives exchanges Below ...
, :Futures exchanges *
Foreign exchange market The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. By trading volume, ...


See also

*
Commodity market A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products. The primary sector includes agricultural products, energy products, and metals. Soft commodities may be perishable and harvested, w ...
*
Private electronic market A private electronic market (PEM) uses the Internet to connect a limited number or pre-qualified buyers or sellers in one market. PEMs are a hybrid between perfectly open markets (e.g. exchanges where there is no pre-existing relationship betwee ...
*
Stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange a ...
*
List of stock exchanges A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
*
Over-the-counter (finance) Over-the-counter (OTC) or off-exchange trading or pink sheet trading is done directly between two parties, without the supervision of an exchange. It is contrasted with exchange trading, which occurs via exchanges. A stock exchange has the ben ...


Notes and citations

;Notes ;Citations


References

* * *


External links

* {{Authority control Commodity markets Stock market