Toronto Stock Exchange

Toronto Stock Exchange

Toronto Stock Exchange

Much like its New York counterpart, the Toronto Stock Exchange is an internationally renowned and capitalist driven institution. Located in Canada.s largest city, the Toronto Stock Exchange is Canada.s principal exchange and carries the Canadian listings for many Fortune 500 companies.

The long and prestigious history of the Toronto Stock Exchange, considered by many to be the cornerstone of Canada's financial system, unofficially began in 1852 when a group of business men gathered together to form an Association of brokers. No official documentation of them actively trading is recorded.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was officially established in 1861 when a resolution was passed at the Masonic Hall and the exchange was instituted. Trading began slowly with daily half hour sessions where a limited number of trades were executed. In 1878 the Toronto Stock Exchange moved to 24 King Street, the first of many moves. This remained its home until 1901 when the membership rose dramatically and the volume of trades being executed also escalated. It was then that the Toronto Stock Exchange relocated to 20 King Street until construction of its own building was completed in 1913. The exchange was moved one other time in 1937 before it assumed its current home in the Exchange Tower at 130 King Street West in 1983.

The Toronto Stock exchange, considered as one of the three largest exchanges in North America was the first to introduce many innovations to the world of stock trading. The world's first Computer Assisted Trading System (CATS) was introduced in 1977 by the TSX. It was also the first to introduce decimal trading in 1996. In 1997 the Toronto Stock Exchange was North America's first exchange to switch all of its operations entirely to a virtual environment when it closed its trading floors.

Like all other exchanges, the Toronto Stock Exchange has not been impervious to the dramatic market corrections that have occurred over the past few years. The first such corrections came on October 19, 1987 when the index fell 400 points in active trading. It was the start of a mini-recession for Canada.s economy. In more recent memory, the exchange suffered another adjustment when the bull market of the 1990's driven by the falsely inflated technology industry collapsed leaving many investors penniless and forcing many to declare bankruptcy.

In 2000 the Toronto Stock Exchange became a publicly traded company and declared its first quarterly dividend as such in January of 2003.