A stock exchange is a process of exchanging services between stock brokers and traders. The services which are exchanged can be in the form of stocks, bonds and other securities. It is the most important component of a stock market. It provides opportunities to small investors to get access to  the shares in the same company as large investors. There are many stock exchanges in the world. It is being done all around the world and the values keep varying themselves in a fraction of seconds. Following are the top ten stock exchanges in the world.

10. Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Frankfurt stock exchange is also known as Deutsche Börse, is headquartered in Frankfurt. Being one of the leaders in the stock exchange organization it provides services to financial institutions and provides access to companies to global capital markets. This stock exchange has a market capitalization of 1.13 trillion dollars. The exchange process is a chain from securities and derivatives trading to clearing for settlement and custody, through market data and the development and operation of electronic trading system. Its network is spread over 765 companies making it the tenth largest stock exchange in the world.

9. Australian Securities Exchange

Australian securities exchange having its headquarters in Sydney was created in the year 2006. It was formed due to the collaboration of Australian Stock Exchange and the Sydney Futures Exchange. It has an average daily turnover of 4,685 billion dollars which fetches it the ninth position in the list of top stock exchanges. The leading market index of the Australian securities exchange is a S&P / ASX 200. It provides services in the field of shares, futures, exchange traded options, warrants, contracts for difference, exchange-traded funds, real estate investment trusts, listed investment companies and interest rate securities.

8.  Toronto Stock Exchange

Toronto stock exchange having its headquarters in Toronto is the third largest in Canada and the sixth largest stock company in North America. It is managed by the TMX Group which. Toronto stock exchange is the leading company in the mining and oil & gas sector, including companies like Cameco Corporation, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., EnCana Corporation, Husky Energy Inc., Imperial Oil Ltd., and others. Toronto stock exchange accounts for $1.35 trillion in terms of its market capitalization. It represents a wide range of businesses from Canada, Europe, United States and many more countries. The exchange is carried out in terms of conventional securities, exchange-traded funds, split share corporations, income trusts and investment funds.

7. Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Hong Kong stock exchange is also known as SEHK. Having its headquarters in Hong Kong, SEHK is the third largest stock exchange in the Asia and the seventh largest in the world in terms of its market capital and trade value. Over 1477 companies are enlisted in SEHK with its market categorized into securities markets and derivative markets. It also provides clearing houses for these markets. Hong Kong stock exchange (SEHK) is worth $ 1.77 trillion in terms of its trade value. SEHK has PetroChina, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China mobile as its leading stock exchange companies.

6. Shanghai Stock Exchange

Being an independent stock exchange running in the People’s Republic of China, the Shanghai stock exchange is the sixth largest stock exchange in the world.  Unlike Hong Kong stock exchange, the Shanghai stock exchange (SSE) does not open its door completely for the foreign investors. The main reason behind this is the stringent laws enforced by the higher Chinese authorities. Shanghai stock exchange (SSE) is worth $2.07 trillion. The Shanghai stock exchange basically deals with stocks, bonds and funds. Bonds are further subdivided into treasury bonds, corporate bonds and convertible corporate bonds. SSE has its main index as PetroChina.

5. London Stock Exchange

London stock exchange (LSE), headquartered in London city was founded in 1801 and is the fifth largest stock exchange company in the world. It features more than 3000 British and other foreign companies. The market price of LSE is $ 2.20 trillion. It has multiple indices with FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 being the leading indices. It has a widespread network distributed across 70 countries throughout the world. It paves the way for many other new companies ranging in size thus proving as a lending hand to them. It opens on the weekdays from 8:00 to 16:30 except the holidays.

4.  Euronext Stock Exchange

Euronext has its base in Paris and as its name suggests, it has many other sister companies spread across all over Europe. It was born and brought up in the year 2000 with the collaboration of the Amsterdam Stock exchange, Brussels Stock exchange and Bourse de Paris. It is today the fourth largest stock exchange company in the world accounting for $2.26 trillion as its market value. It has performed much collaborations with recently shaking hands with NYSE in the year 2006 giving rise to the NYSE Euronext corporation. It is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

3. NASDAQ Stock Exchange

NASDAQ is an acronym for the National Association of Securities Dealers and Automated Quotations, and was founded in 1971, owned and operated by NASDAQ OMX Group. The OMX Group operates a pool of markets, clearing houses and securities depositories.  Its trade value accounts for $2.77 trillion. It is the largest virtual stock exchange market in America, which implies that all the exchanges are done electronically with the help of electronic screens through a large network of dealers. It enlists 3,400 companies with the NASDAQ Composite as its main index. It works from Monday to Friday between 9:30 am to 4:00 pm according to the Eastern Time.

2. Tokyo Stock Exchange

Also known as TSE, it was established in 1878 and has now emerged as the second largest stock exchange in the world, in terms of market capitalization Worthing $3.10 trillion. It is an amalgamation of 2,292 companies which are categorized in 3 sections namely First section, Second section and the Mother section. All the large companies are clubbed in First section, the Second section includes the medium sized companies and all the newly emerged companies are grouped under the Mother section. Its main index is Nikkei 225. It runs from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. and 12:30 – 3:00 p.m.

1. New York Stock Exchange

The New York stock exchange also known as the NYSE is situated in lower Manhattan on the famous Wall Street in New York City. It was established in 1792. All the transactions are done electronically which are actually the trades performed. It has now emerged as the largest stock exchange in the world, in terms of both market capitalization and trade value because it is worth $9.57 trillion in market. It incorporates 90% of Dow Jones industrial average and 82% of S&P market volume. It handles more than 8000 listed issues. It runs five days a week from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. except for holidays.