The
Canadian Stock Exchange consists of mainly four Stock Exchanges concentrated in the southern parts of Canada, along the US border. This is because large portions of Canada fall under the biting cold Tundra region, towards the north of the country.
The Canadian Stock Exchange is made up of the following major Stock Exchanges:
The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)
The Montreal Exchange (Bourse de Montréal, known as Montreal Stock Exchange until 1982)
The Winnipeg Commodity Exchange
TSX Venture Exchange (formerly known as The Canadian Venture Exchange)
The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) is the largest Canadian Stock Exchange concerned only with the trade of senior equities. Owned and managed by the TSX Group, this Canadian Stock Exchange ranks 6th in the world. Merging with its arch rival the Standard Stock and Mining Exchange in 1934, an Act of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1878 resulted in the official incorporation of this Canadian Stock Exchange formed in 1861. Computer Assisted Trading System or CATS, a machine-driven trading system was introduced in 1977 in order to quote the less liquid equities. This Canadian Stock Exchange became fully automated in 1997 when its trading floors were closed and it began to function in an electronic medium.
- Futures contracts, options and other such derivatives are exclusively traded in the Montreal Exchange making it the sole Canadian Derivatives Exchange. This Canadian Stock Exchange became fully automated by the end of 2001. The Montreal Exchange provides the Boston Option Exchange (BOX) in the US with electronic trading systems and support from February 2000 onwards and as a result earns a huge revenue besides owning a 31.4 % stake.
- The Winnipeg Commodity Exchange was originally the Winnipeg Grain & Produce Exchange, established in 1887. A derivatives market dealing electronically in feed wheat, western barley and rape seed as the forms of futures exchange and options contracts, making it the only commodity futures exchange in Canada.
- The now defunct Canadian Venture Exchange (CDNX), known as the TSX Venture Exchange since 2001, after the TSX Group overtook it. This Canadian Stock Exchange was actually formed through the merger of the Vancouver Stock Exchange (VSE) and the Alberta Stock Exchange (ASE) in order to mainly deal with smaller companies which were too small to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The organizations that later merged with the CDNX are
- Canadian Dealing Network
- Winnipeg Stock Exchange
- equities division of the Montreal Exchange