Frankfurt Stock Exchange

Trading venues Xetra and Börse Frankfurt

Through its Deutsche Börse Cash Market business section, Deutsche Börse AG now operates two trading venues at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

• Xetra is the reference market for exchange trading in German equities and exchange traded funds. In 2015, 90 per cent of all trading in shares at all German exchanges was transacted through the Xetra. With regard to DAX listings, Xetra has 60 per cent market share throughout Europe.^[1] Trading times on trading days are from 9.00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m.^[2] The prices on Xetra serve as the basis for calculating the DAX, the best-known German share index. Over 200 trading participants from 16 European countries, plus Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, are connected via Xetra servers in Frankfurt/Main.^[3]
• Börse Frankfurt is the trading venue for mainly private investors with more than one million securities of German and international issuers. So-called "specialists" on the trading floor attend to the trading of the securities.

Market surveillance and protective mechanisms

Trading at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is governed by clear rules, which apply equally for all trading participants. Independent market surveillance is made up of the Trading Surveillance Office (HÜSt), the Exchange Supervisory Authority attached to the Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Transportation, and Regional Development, and the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).

With a view to improving the continuity of prices and to avoid mistrades, several protective mechanisms are in place for the trading venues Xetra and Börse Frankfurt. These include volatility interruption, market order interruption, and liquidity interruption measures.

History

The origins of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange go back to medieval trade fairs in the 11th century. By the 16th century Frankfurt developed into a wealthy and busy city with an economy based on trade and financial services.

In 1585 a bourse was established to set up fixed currency exchange rates, which is considered to mark the 'birth' of the stock exchange. In the following centuries Frankfurt developed into one of the world's first stock exchanges – next to Amsterdam, London and Paris. Bankers like Mayer Amschel Rothschild and Max Warburg had substantial influence on Frankfurt's financial trade.

In 1879, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange moved into its new building at Börsenplatz. During the final third of the 19th century, Frankfurt was a major financial center in the Atlantic world.

It was only in 1949 after World War II that the Frankfurt Stock Exchange finally established as the leading stock exchange in Germany with consequently incoming national and international investments.

During the 1990s the Frankfurt Stock Exchange was also bourse for the Neuer Markt (New Market) as part of the worldwide dot-com boom.

In 1993 the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (Frankfurt Stock Exchange) became Deutsche Börse AG, operating businesses for the exchange.

From the early 1960s onwards the Frankfurt Stock Exchange took advantage of the close by Bundesbank which effectively decided on financial policies in Europe until the introduction of the euro in 2002. Since then the exchange profits from the presence of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

In 2002 and 2004 Deutsche Börse was in advanced negotiations to take over London Stock Exchange, which were broken off in 2005. A further merger bid was blocked by the European Commission in 2017.