The 10 Largest Stock Exchanges in the World

A stock exchange is a financial marketplace where investors can buy and sell securities, including stocks, bonds, derivatives, commodities and other financial instruments.

Such transactions are conducted based on rules and regulations laid down by each exchange. In addition, a stock exchange serves as a measure of the economy’s health. You may have heard of some of the more popular exchanges in the world.

But, there are a few large stock exchanges with which we may not be familiar. Bourses in emerging markets also possess huge potential for future growth as they can grow at a much faster rate than developed economies.

With a market capitalisation of US$26.2 trillion, the NYSE is the world’s largest stock exchange. The NYSE is one of the oldest stock exchanges that was established in 1792 and has more than 2,400 listed companies.

American stock exchanges have always carried an elevated sense of legitimacy, which ultimately provides easy access to capital and fund-raising for companies that trade there.

Trading on big American exchanges also does the job of putting some investor concerns at bay. That is because non-US companies must comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and accounting regulations, thus providing a more transparent process to investors.

One of the most common indices on NYSE is the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), a price-weighted index of the 30 most prominent stocks.