The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; ) is a
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 ...
located in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Ontario, Canada. It is the
10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on
market capitalization
Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders.
Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by ...
. Based in the
EY Tower in
Toronto's Financial District, the TSX is a wholly owned subsidiary of the
TMX Group for the trading of senior equities.
History
Beginnings

The Toronto Stock Exchange likely descended from the Association of Brokers, a group formed by Toronto businessmen on July 26, 1852.
No records of the group's transactions have survived. It is however known that on October 25, 1861, twenty-four
brokers gathered at the Masonic Hall to create and participate in the ''Toronto Stock Exchange''.
Between 1852 and 1870, two other distinct, commodity-orientated, exchanges were founded : the ''Toronto Exchange'' in 1854 and the ''Toronto Stock and Mining Exchange'' in 1868. Initially the TSE had 13 listings but it grew to 18 in 1868 (a majority of bonds and bank's issues). Many banks of
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...
failed during 1869, which halted any sort of trading in the city as the market was just too small. A
bull market
A market trend is a perceived tendency of the financial markets to move in a particular direction over time. Analysts classify these trends as ''secular'' for long time-frames, ''primary'' for medium time-frames, and ''secondary'' for short time ...
in 1870 boosted investor's confidence and eight of the original 24 brokers joined again to re-establish the TSE.
The exchange was incorporated by an act of the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...
in 1878.
The TSE grew continuously in size and in shares traded, save for a three-month period in 1914 when the exchange was shut down for fear of financial panic due to
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. The day of the
Wall Street crash of 1929, Toronto's exchange was better connected to New York's and received the bad news before Montreal's (prior to 1931, exchanges communicated via telephone or by brokers' private wires, as they were not yet interconnected by
ticker). By the afternoon, its three most popular stocks were down by at least 8%:
International Nickel,
Hiram Walker & Sons and
Brazilian Light & Power. The following day, a record number of 331,000 shares changed hands on the TSE, with an overall loss of value of 20% (in Montreal, 525,000 shares and 25% loss).
Meanwhile, a
British Columbia gold rush in the 1890s stimulated the demand for
start-up capital but Montreal and Toronto's exchanges deemed the ventures too risky. The boom was handled with the Toronto Stock and Mining Exchange, founded in 1896 and which merged with its rival Standard Stock and Mining Exchange in 1899. The SSME, after years of ups and downs, was amalgamated into the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1934. While a durable surge in mining trading was recorded in Toronto (either
securities
A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any for ...
) or other publicly listed assets, in Montreal the volume of the
equity-centric market was going down. Toronto found itself a reputation as a financial centre for mining and from 1934, the total trading volume on the TSE surpassed that of Montreal's.
A major exchange
The TSE moved on
Bay Street
Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District, Toronto, Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Economy of Canada, Canada's financial services indust ...
in 1913
and in 1937 opened a new trading floor and headquarters in an
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
building, still on Bay.
By 1936, the Toronto Stock Exchange grew to become the third largest in North America.

In 1977, it launched the
TSE 300 index
The S&P/TSX Composite Index is the benchmark Canadian stock market index representing roughly 70% of the total market capitalization on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Having replaced the TSE 300 Composite Index on May 1, 2002, the S&P/TSX Com ...
and introduced the
CATS
The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...
(Computer Assisted Trading System), an automated trading system, and began to use it for the quotation of less liquid equities. In 1983, the TSE vacated its Art Deco headquarters on Bay Street and moved into the
Exchange Tower. The old TSE building later became the
Design Exchange, a museum and education centre.
On April 23, 1997, the TSE's
trading floor
Open outcry is a method of communication between professionals on a stock exchange or futures exchange, typically on a trading floor. It involves shouting and the use of hand signals to transfer information primarily about buy and sell orde ...
closed, making it the second-largest stock exchange in North America to choose a floorless, electronic (or virtual trading) environment.
In 1999, through a major realignment plan, Toronto Stock Exchange became Canada's sole exchange for the trading of senior
equities
Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporation in proportion t ...
.
The
Bourse de Montréal/Montreal Exchange assumed responsibility for the trading of
derivatives and the
Vancouver Stock Exchange and
Alberta Stock Exchange merged to form the
Canadian Venture Exchange (CDNX) handling trading in junior equities. The Canadian Dealing Network,
Winnipeg Stock Exchange, and equities portion of the Montreal Exchange later merged with CDNX. In 2000, the Toronto Stock Exchange became a for-profit company. In 2002 its acronym was rebranded to TSX and it became a
public company
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...
.
[Government of Canad]
The Toronto Stock Exchange
/ref>
TMX Group era
In 2001, the Toronto Stock Exchange acquired the Canadian Venture Exchange, which was renamed the TSX Venture Exchange in 2002; this resulted in the creation of a parent to the TSX, the TSX Group. This ended 123 years of the usage of TSE as a Canadian stock exchange. On May 11, 2007, the S&P/TSX Composite, the main index of the Toronto Stock Exchange, traded above the 14,000 point level for the first time ever. On December 17, 2008, for the first time, the TSX was closed for a full trading day due to a technical glitch.
On February 9, 2011, 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 ...
announced that it had agreed to merge with the TMX Group, Toronto Stock Exchange's parent, hoping to create a combined entity with a market capitalization of $5.9 trillion (£3.7 trillion). Xavier Rolet, who is CEO of the LSE Group, would have headed the new enlarged company, while TMX Chief Executive Thomas Kloet would become the new firm president. Based on data from December 30, 2010 the new stock exchange would have been the second largest in the world with a market cap 48% greater than the 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 ...
. Eight of the 15 board members of the combined entity were to be appointed by LSE, 7/15 by TMX. The provisional name for the combined group would be LTMX Group plc. About two weeks after Maple Group launched a competing bid the LSEG-TMX deal was terminated after failing to receive the minimum 67% voter approval from shareholders of TMX Group. The rejection came amidst new concerns raised by Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney
Mark Joseph Carney (born March 16, 1965) is a Canadian politician and economist who has served as the 24th and current Prime Minister of Canada, prime minister of Canada since 2025. He has served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, lead ...
regarding foreign control of clearing systems and opposition to the deal by Ontario's finance minister. On June 13, 2011, a rival and hostile bid from the Canadian-based Maple Group took place. The bid was for up to CAD$3.7 billion in cash and shares, in the hope of preventing a takeover of TMX by the LSEG Group. The group included leading Canadian banks and financial institutions. In March 2015, a competing exchange, Aequitas Neo, opened for trading, listing 45 issues that were only listed on the TSX. The new exchange aimed to focus on fairness, particularly in relation to what it referred to as "predatory high-frequency trading practices". The exchange planned to list additional TSX-listed securities. On May 27, 2014, TMX Group officially opened financial operations in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia under the name TSX Financial..
Operations
The exchange has a normal trading session from 09:30am to 04:00pm ET and a post-market session from 4:15pm to 5:00pm ET on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in advance.
Companies listed
the Toronto Stock Exchange had 1,811 listed issuers (including ETFs and other structured financial products) with a combined market capitalization of CAD $4.16 trillion. Up from 1,798 listed issuers and a combined market capitalization of CAD $4.0 trillion as of March 2023. By the end of January 2024, the total market capitalization of companies listed on TSX & TSXV reached CAD $4.23 trillion.
The exchange is home to all of Canada's Big Five commercial banks—Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC; ) is a Canadian Multinational corporation, multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered at CIBC Square in the Financial District, Toronto, Financial District of Toronto, Ont ...
(CIBC), Bank of Montreal
The Bank of Montreal (, ), abbreviated as BMO (pronounced ), is a Canadian multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company.
The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank, making it Canada ...
(BMO), Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank), Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; ) is a Canadian multinational Financial institution, financial services company and the Big Five (banks), largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 20 million clients and has more than ...
(RBC), and the Toronto-Dominion Bank
Toronto-Dominion Bank (), doing business as TD Bank Group (), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The bank was created on February 1, 1955, through the merger of the Bank of ...
(TD)—making the exchange the centre for banking in the country. This was seen as being most evident during the proposed mergers of Royal Bank with Bank of Montreal, and CIBC with the Toronto-Dominion Bank in 1998. Then-Finance Minister Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and retired politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006.
Th ...
blocked the mergers to preserve competition.
The exchange is the primary listing for a number of energy companies including; Enbridge
Enbridge Inc. is a multinational pipeline transport, pipeline and energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Enbridge owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and the United States, transporting crude oil, natural gas, and n ...
, Suncor
Suncor Energy Inc. () is a Canadian integrated energy company based in Calgary, Alberta. It specializes in production of synthetic crude from oil sands. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Suncor Energy was ranked as the 48th-largest public compan ...
, TC Energy
TC Energy Corporation (formerly TransCanada Corporation) is a major North American energy company, based in the TC Energy Tower building in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, that develops and operates energy infrastructure in Canada, the United States, ...
, Canadian Natural Resources, Imperial Oil
Imperial Oil Limited () is a Canadian petroleum company. It is Canada's second-largest integrated oil company. It is majority-owned by American oil company ExxonMobil, with a 69.6% ownership stake in the company. It is a producer of crude oil, ...
, Pembina and Cenovus all within the S&P/TSX 60
The S&P/TSX 60 Index is a stock market index of 60 large companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Launched on December 30, 1998 by the Canadian S&P Index Committee, a unit of S&P Dow Jones Indices, the index has components across nine secto ...
index.
Many of the large companies listed on the TSX, especially those on the S&P/TSX 60 index, have a secondary listing on an American exchange such as the New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
.
See also
* Stock market index
In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an Index (economics), index that measures the performance of a stock market, or of a subset of a stock market. It helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calcul ...
* System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR)
* 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 ...
* List of stock exchanges in the Americas
This is a list of active stock exchanges in the Americas. Stock exchanges in Latin America (where Spanish and Portuguese prevail) use the term ''Bolsa de Valores'', meaning "bag" or "purse" of "values". (compare Börse in German or bourse i ...
* List of stock exchange mergers in the Americas
* List of stock exchanges in the Commonwealth of Nations
* S&P/TSX 60
The S&P/TSX 60 Index is a stock market index of 60 large companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Launched on December 30, 1998 by the Canadian S&P Index Committee, a unit of S&P Dow Jones Indices, the index has components across nine secto ...
* :Lists of companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange
References
External links
*
Site of parent company
{{Authority control
1861 establishments in Canada West
Canadian companies established in 1861
Companies based in Toronto
Economy of Toronto
Financial services companies established in 1861
Stock exchanges in Canada