Stock Exchanges Industry Profile

Companies in this industry operate physical or electronic marketplaces to facilitate the buying and selling of stocks, stock options, bonds, or commodity contracts. Major companies include the Cboe Global Markets, Nasdaq OMX, and New York Stock Exchange (all based in the US), as well as Japan Exchange Group, Euronext (Netherlands), and London Stock Exchange. Regardless of their location, major securities exchanges are global in scope.

The global equity market capitalization, which represents the value of publicly traded companies and indicates demand for stock exchanges, reached about $106 trillion as of 2023, according to SIFMA. The US dominates the market at $49 trillion, representing over 40%. China, the European Union, and other emerging and developed markets follow at about 10% each.

The securities and commodity exchanges industry in the US includes about 40 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $12 billion.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand is driven by investor confidence and companies seeking access to public capital. The profitability of individual exchanges depends on maximizing transaction and clearing fees while keeping transaction-based expenses low. Large companies have advantages in volume of shares traded, their ability to attract large company listings, and access to public capital in foreign markets. Smaller exchanges can compete effectively by specializing in smaller companies, sectors, such as technology stocks, regions, or specialty financial instruments. Most companies ultimately chose to list on their ...