The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest stock exchange in the world, with an equity market capitalization of just below 32 trillion U.S. dollars as of January 2025. The following three exchanges were the NASDAQ, Shanghai Stock Exchange, and the Japan Exchange Group. What is a stock exchange? A stock exchange is a marketplace where stockbrokers, traders, buyers, and sellers can trade in equities products. The largest exchanges have thousands of listed companies. These companies sell shares of their business, giving the general public the opportunity to invest in them. The oldest stock exchange worldwide is the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, founded in the late sixteenth century. Other functions of a stock exchange Since these are publicly traded companies, every firm listed on a stock exchange has had an initial public offering (IPO). The largest IPOs can raise billions of dollars in equity for the firm involved. Related to stock exchanges are derivatives exchanges, where stock options, futures contracts, and other derivatives can be traded.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) continues to dominate the Americas' financial landscape, boasting a staggering market capitalization of over 28 trillion U.S. dollars as of March 2024. This figure dwarfs its closest regional competitor, Nasdaq, which stands at approximately 25.4 trillion U.S. dollars. The sheer scale of these American exchanges underscores their critical role in global finance, with the NYSE alone surpassing the combined market cap of all other listed exchanges in the Americas. Global competition and innovation While U.S. exchanges lead in market capitalization, other global markets are showing strength in different areas. India's stock exchanges, for instance, have become hotbeds for initial public offerings (IPOs). In 2024, the National Stock Exchange of India and Bombay Stock Exchange collectively hosted 327 IPO deals, more than double the 137 deals on Nasdaq. This surge in IPO activity reflects India's growing economic influence and the increasing appeal of its capital markets to both domestic and international companies. Diversity in exchange metrics Market capitalization is just one measure of an exchange's significance. While third in market cap among American exchanges, for instance, the TMX Group in Canada leads the continent in the number of listed companies with 3,569 as of December 2024. This diversity in metrics highlights the multifaceted nature of stock exchange comparisons and the importance of considering various factors when assessing their global impact and appeal to companies seeking public listing.

The value of global domestic equity market increased from 65.04 trillion U.S. dollars in 2013 to 124.63 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. The United States was by far the leading country with the largest share of total world stocks as of 2024. Global market capitalization in different regions The market capitalization of domestic companies listed varied across different regions of the world. As of Decmber 2024, the Americas region had the largest domestic equity market, totaling 62 trillion U.S. dollars. This region is home to the NYSE and Nasdaq, which are the two largest stock exchange operators in the world. The market capitalization of these two exchanges alone exceeded 60 billion U.S. dollars as of January 2025, larger than the total market capitalization in the Asia-Pacific, and in the EMEA regions in the same period. Largest Stock Exchanges in Latin America As of December 2024, the B3 (Brasil Bolsa Balcao) was the biggest stock exchange in Latin America in terms of market capitalization and the second-largest in terms of number of listed companies. Following the B3 were the Mexican Stock Exchange and the Santiago Stock Exchange in Chile. The most valuable company in Latin America is listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange: Fomento Económico Mexicano, a multinational beverage and retail company headquartered in Monterrey, had market cap of 177 billion U.S. dollars as of March 2025.

As of December 2024, the Shanghai Stock Exchange had the largest domestic market capitalization among stock exchanges in the Asia Pacific region, amounting to approximately 7.2 trillion U.S. dollars. Second in the ranking was the Shanghai Stock Exchange Group, followed by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Stock exchanges in Asia PacificThe major stock exchanges in the Asia-Pacific region are the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Japan, the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange in Mainland China, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in Hong Kong, and the Bombay Stock Exchange in India, which is also the oldest stock exchange in Asia. Also, five out of the ten largest stock exchange operators in the world are located in Asia.What is market capitalization?Market capitalization, also commonly referred to as market cap, is a measure of the total market value of outstanding shares of a company on the stock market. It indicates a company’s relative size and value while taking various determinants such as risk and the market’s perception into consideration. There are large-cap (>10 billion), mid-cap (2 to 10 billion) and small-cap (300 million to 2 billion) companies depending on their market capitalization.

While nearly every country in Europe has a stock exchange, only five are considered major, and have a market capital of over one trillion U.S dollars. European stock exchanges make up two of the top ten global major stock markets. Europe’s biggest stock exchange is the Euronext which combines five markets based in Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon, London, Oslo and Paris. Euronext The Euronext Stock Exchange saw a significant increase in total market capitalization between 2021 and 2022, before increasing again during 2023. As of March 2024, the luxury goods company LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton was the largest company listed on the Euronext Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalization. Globally, the Euronext Stock Exchange is the fourth largest. London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) was the second largest stock exchange in Europe and ninth globally in terms of market capitalization of domestic listed companies. As of May 2024, there were 1,775 companies trading on the LSE with the LSE's combined market capitalization amounting to approximately 3.86 trillion British pounds during the same period.

In 2023, the market capitalization of the Shanghai Stock Exchange amounted to over 6.5 trillion U.S. dollars. It was the largest bourse based on market capitalization in the Greater China region. In 2023, the market capitalization of the Shanghai Stock Exchange which trades in B shares amounted to 11.5 billion U.S. dollars. B-shares can only be traded by foreign investors, while A shares may only be traded by Chinese citizens.

As of January 2025, the largest stock exchange in Europe was the Euronext, with a total market capitalization of around 6.2 trillion U.S. dollars. Euronext was formed in 2000, and is a pan-European stock exchange seated in Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin London, Lisbon Paris and Oslo. In 2021, Euronext added the Milan Stock Exchange, which was previously operated by the LSE Group.

The total market capitalization of all companies trading on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) has taken a large hit during the early months of 2020, due mostly part to a mass sell-off of shares caused by the fears surrounding the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Between December 2019 and March 2020, the total value of market capitalization decreased by more than 900 billion British pounds (GBP). The overall number of companies currently trading has also fallen, although the number of daily trades spiked in March 2020. As of December 2024, the total market value of all companies trading on the London Stock Exchange stood at over 3.52 trillion British pounds. European stock exchanges While almost every country has a stock Exchange, in Europe only 5 exchanges are considered major, with total market capital amounting to over one trillion euros. The London Stock Exchange is the second largest in Europe and ninth largest worldwide. As of December 2024, Europe’s largest stock exchange, Euronext had a total market capital of listed companies valued at approximately 6.44 trillion U.S. dollars.

As of the end of 2023, the total market cap of the Spanish Stock Exchange amounted to just over 1.2 trillion euros, an increase compared to the previous year. The market capitalization, or market cap, is one measure of calculating the value of a stock or group of stocks. It is found by computing the number of shares times the price per share.

In 2024, stock markets in the United States accounted for roughly 60 percent of world stocks. The next largest country by stock market share was Japan, followed by the United Kingdom. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ are the largest stock exchange operators worldwide. What is a stock exchange? The first modern publicly traded company was the Dutch East Industry Company, which sold shares to the general public to fund expeditions to Asia. Since then, groups of companies have formed exchanges in which brokers and dealers can come together and make transactions in one space. Stock market indices group companies trading on a given exchange, giving an idea of how they evolve in real time. Appeal of stock ownership Over half of adults in the United States are investing money in the stock market. Stocks are an attractive investment because the possible return is higher than offered by other financial instruments.

Based on the total number of companies listed, the Japan Exchange Group was the largest stock exchange operator in the world as of Janaury 2025, with 3,968 companies listed. Of these, only six were foreign companies, with the remaining being domestic. The stock exchange with the highest number of international companies at this time was the U.S. Nasdaq, with 871. However, despite only having the seventh-highest number of companies, the New York Stock Exchange has the highest market capitalization of any stock exchange operator.

The total market capitalization of German companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock exchange reached 2.21 trillion euros at the end of 2021. This is above the values found at the end of 2019 and 2017, indicating that Germany's stock market has largely recovered from the financial crash precipitated by the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020. At the end of 2023, the total market capitalization of German companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock exchange closed at 1.97 trillion euros, a significant decrease compared to the previous year. What is the Frankfurt Stock Exchange? While there are seven stock exchanges in Germany, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is by far the most important, accounting for around 90 percent of transactions. Run by Deutsche Börse AG, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is comprised of two exchange trading venues: the traditional trading floor of the Börse Frankfurt, and the electronic trading platform Xetra (which in turn is divided into domestic and international markets). Xetra counts for the vast majority of the trading volume of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. As an electronic platform, the technology behind Xetra is used by other stock exchanges around the world, strengthening the Frankfurt Stock Exchange’s competitive position while facilitating its capacity to handle international trading. As a result, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is one of the largest stock exchanges in the world, sitting just outside the global top 10. The DAX Index The most important indicator of the German share market is the DAX index, which is comprised of the 30 largest German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Some of the more famous companies included in the index are: car manufactures like Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler; clothing and shoe manufacturer Adidas; industrial companies BASF and Siemens; and pharmaceutical company Bayer. Following the DAX is the MDAX index, which covers the 60 next-largest German companies by market cap, then the SDAX index, comprised of the 70 next-largest companies after the MDAX.

While nearly every country in Europe has a stock exchange, only five are considered major, and have a market capital of over one trillion U.S dollars. European stock exchanges make up two of the top ten global major stock markets. Europe’s biggest stock exchanges are the Euronext which combines five markets, and the London Stock Exchange. Since the Covid-19 outbreak all of Europe’s largest exchanges all saw large drops in total market capital value between January and March 2020. Since March, all major stock exchanges in Europe have been in recovery. Coronavirus First reported from Wuhan, China, on 31 December 2019, the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has massively affected stock exchanges and the financial sector globally. Approximately 210 countries and territories worldwide have been affected by the COVID-19 virus. Euronext As Europe’s largest stock exchange, Euronext consists of the Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon and Paris stock markets. As of the end of 2022, companies trading on the Euronext stock exchange had a combined market capitalization of approximately seven trillion euros.

This statistic shows the largest stock exchanges in the world by their market value as of February 14, 2011. It was found that CME Group was the second largest stock exchange in 2011, with market capitalization amounting to approximately 20.3 billion U.S. dollars.

As of Janaury 2025, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq - the two largest stock exchange operators in the United States - held a combined market capitalization for domestic listed companies of over 62 trillion U.S. dollars. Both markets were almost evenly sized at this point in time - at approximately 32 and 30 trillion U.S. dollars, respectively. However, the Nasdaq has grown much quicker than the NYSE since January 2018, when their respective domestic market caps were 23 and 11 trillion U.S. dollars. Much of this can be attributed to the success of information technology stocks during the global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as the Nasdaq is the traditional venue for companies operating in the tech sector.

In 2024, the market capitalization of the securities market at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange amounted to over 35 trillion Hong Kong dollars, a decrease of almost seven trillion Hong Kong dollars compared to the previous year. The bourse was established in 1891 and since then, developed into the financial center of Asia.

This statistic shows the largest global stock exchanges globally as of October 2024, ranked by the value of electronic order book share trading. In that time, the NASDAQ Stock Market was the largest stock exchange worldwide, with the value of EOB shares traded amounting to 2.6 trillion U.S. dollars. Stock exchanges - additional information Stock exchanges are an important part of the free market economic system and are the most important component of the stock market. A stock exchange provides the setting in which stock brokers, sellers, buyers and traders can be brought together to take part in the sale of shares, bonds, derivatives and other securities. The core function of a stock exchange is to enable the fair and orderly trading, as well as the provision of price information of any securities being traded on that exchange. Originally the exchanges were physical places (in some world locations the goods are still traded over-the-counter) but with time, they took the shape of an electronic platform. In order that company shares may be bought, traded and sold on a stock exchange, the company is required to have undergone an initial public offering process (IPO) on that particular exchange. The initial public offering of Alibaba Group Holding, a Chinese company operating in the e-commerce sector, on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014, was the largest listing in the United States since 1996. The IPO of Alibaba Group Holding raised approximately 21.77 billion U.S. dollars.

Listed shares on Euronext Paris amounted to a market about twice the size of those in Euronext Amsterdam in August 2024. The two markets are by far the largest, as they account for 3.13 and 1.61 trillion euros of Euronext's total market capitalization respectively. Euronext is a European stock exchange seated in Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin London, Lisbon, Milan, Paris and Oslo, which was formed in 2000. As of August 2024, the total market capitalization of companies on the Euronext stock exchange amounted to 6.29 trillion euros.

In 2024, the stock trading value of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in Japan amounted to 1,322.8 trillion Japanese yen, reaching a decade high. The combined market capitalization of companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange reached 996.3 trillion yen in December 2024.

Between the first quarter of 2007 and the third quarter of 2024, the lowest market capitalization of all companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) was recorded in the first quarter of 2009, at 2.6 trillion British pounds. As of the third quarter of 2024, the market capitalization of the entire LSE amounted to 3.7 trillion British pounds. Although the value of companies trading has fluctuated and increased overall, a downward trend can be seen in the number of companies listed on the LSE.