A new national stock exchange is launching in Texas

Texas, already filled with livestock, could soon get many more live stocks.

A group seeking to create a new national stock exchange, the Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE), has raised ~$120 million from dozens of individuals and investment firms, and plans to file registration with the SEC later this year, according to an announcement released yesterday.

• The Dallas-headquartered virtual exchange, which pledges to be “CEO-friendly,” is aiming to tap into disaffection with increasing compliance costs and rules at the NYSE and Nasdaq, the Wall Street Journal reports.

It won’t be easy

Like almost everything in the world except for relationships, the start is the hardest part – and the TXSE is facing off against a healthy amount of competition.

As it stands, there are ~16 equities exchanges with varying trading volumes. The NYSE and Nasdaq make up a significant portion of US equities trading volume; in May, these exchanges handled 20+% and 15+% of the overall figure, respectively, according to data reported by Bloomberg.

• Decades ago, there were dozens of regional stock exchanges outside of New York, but they either shut down or were acquired by larger players.
• Examples include the Boston Stock Exchange, Chicago Stock Exchange, and Philadelphia Stock Exchange, which have all been folded into the parent companies of the NYSE and Nasdaq over the last 20 years.

Two things going for the TXSE: 1) It’s backed by the world’s largest asset-management firm (BlackRock), as well as one of the world’s biggest electronic-trading firms (Citadel Securities). And 2) Texas is tied for second with New York in terms of the number of Fortune 500 companies, just behind California.

👀 Looking ahead… The TXSE, which still needs SEC approval to begin operating, aims to handle its first trades in 2025, and host its first listing in 2026.