Stock Market Guide to the Chicago Stock Exchange
Based in the third largest city in the United States, the Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX) operates as a national securities exchange and self-regulated organization under the oversight of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As an integral element of the National Market System, CHX offers competition to all U.S. equity markets and facilitates trading transactions in virtually all New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NYSE Amex Equities, (previously AMEX) and NASDAQ listed securities.
Founded in 1882, with Charles Henrotin as chairman and president, the building at 115 Dearborn Street, Chicago, became the home of the newly formed CHX, with 749 memberships sold in its first month of operation. The beginning of the 20th century presented a number of challenges to the CHX, forcing it to close temporarily as a result of World War I and then, shortly after resuming trade, having to deal with the stock market crash of 1929. Developments in the establishment of the SEC and mergers with other exchanges during which time it was known as the Midwest Securities Trust Company, are other features of the CHX history, until in 1993 the exchange underwent a rejuvenation and changed its name back to the Chicago Stock Exchange.
Some of the CHX corporate structure and trading system highlights in recent years include gaining SEC approval for an ownership structure change from a non-profit, member-owned company to a stockholder-owned corporation in February 2005; the implementation by CHX of the Electronic Book trading platform in July 2005; and the filing of proposed rules with the SEC for implementation of a new trading model in February 2006, with the complete migration to the New Trading Model taking place in February 2007. The CHX operates a fully electronic Matching System, providing routing to both CHX Institutional Brokers and off-exchange market makers, and designed to provide cost effective execution of transactions. SEC rules permit CHX to trade stocks on other exchanges, meaning that publicly traded companies don’t need to be listed on the exchange to be traded there. Certainly, the Chicago Stock Exchange, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of CHX Holdings, Inc., has moved ahead with rapidly developing technology to provide publicly listed companies and stock market players with all the advantages of trading in the 21st century.