200 years of stock trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange

1843 - the first stock corporation law is passed on Prussian territory. Prior to this, the king had to approve the transformation of a company into a stock corporation. At that time there are about 450 AGs in Prussia.

On December 4, 1843, the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce adopted a set of rules for the stock exchange, according to which the exchange was to be "a gathering of traders, brokers and other persons for the purpose of facilitating the conduct of commercial transactions of all kinds under the supervision of the Chamber of Commerce".

1850 - the Association of Sworn Exchange Brokers is founded, the members of which were to uncover price manipulations in particular.

Until the end of the 20th century, little changed in the way stocks are traded. Trading will only take place physically when market participants are present on the exchange. With the Stock Exchange Act of 1896, stock brokers become official and are appointed by the state governments. The prices of the shares in official trading also bear this stamp, today the EU-regulated market with segments Prime and General Standard. Non-official trading takes place on the open market, which initially presumably took place outside the door - today the Open Market. It was not until 2002 that the official price brokers became lead brokers and in 2009 the lead brokers became specialists. Floor trading with the presence of local bank traders will be discontinued in 2011.

1853 - Frankfurt is one of the first stock exchanges to provide a much more customer-friendly custody solution for money and securities with its "Frankfurter Vereins-Kasse": from then on, it takes over the "cashier business", i.e. the settlement of securities transactions - which, by the way, is one of the tasks of the Deutsche Börse subsidiary Clearstream today.

Nevertheless, shares are initially not very popular on the Frankfurt stock exchange, the market participants - licensed stock exchange traders - and the investors, the civil society of the city, prefer bonds. Only slowly, with the progress of the industrial revolution in the 19th century, does stock trading pick up speed.

1914 - the government begins to repress share ownership, e.g. by prohibiting the publication of stock exchange lists and compulsory surrender of foreign shares. The aim is to secure the financing of the costs of war in World War I through war bonds.

1919 - is the start of a bull market in stock prices in the fall, which, parallel to hyperinflation, continues to set new records until 1923. Speculation with shares on credit continues until the government restricts the granting of equity loans to banks, which leads to a crash on the German stock exchanges two years before Black Friday in the USA.

1933 - when the National Socialists seize power, they increasingly restrict free stock exchange trading. Stock exchange supervision is transferred from the Länder to the Reich and the number of stock exchanges is reduced from 21 to 9. The Nazi economic regime impedes the development of the free market and thus also stock exchange trading. The potential investment capital is largely to benefit only the war economy.

1948 - after the currency reform, stock exchange trading also gains momentum and regains its former importance in Frankfurt.

1957 - on February 9, stock exchange trading moves again to the Great Trading Hall of the Exchange Building.

The way in which stock trading takes place will change very little for a long time. Local stock brokers stand behind barriers - high tables - and publish price offers for the securities they handle. A share had only one supervisor, by the way almost exclusively men. There was only one official stockbroker on the Frankfurt stock exchange. In front of the barriers were the traders of the banks and free brokers, who acted both on behalf of customers and on their own account. Buying and selling took place by acclamation, "To you, from you" with the famous hand signals. The buy and sell orders are entered into the order book. Employees of the brokers take care of the forwarding and settlement of the orders, today called back office. This kind of trading, loud, with a lot of hustle and bustle, is still the image of stock exchange trading in many people's minds today. Präsenzhandel on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange will be discontinued in 2011.

1969 - The digital era begins at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with the introduction of the BÖGA computer system. BÖGA is the abbreviation for Börsengeschäftsabwicklung, a system for order routing and the listing of securities in foreign currencies.

1987 - on 16 September, the computerized price information system KISS replaces the price display board in the trading room, which had been in use since 1964.

1997 - the fully electronic trading system Xetra is introduced on 28 November and floor trading is converted to Xetra in 2011.

Today, Xetra is the international reference market for large German stocks, with around 90 percent of trading volume in order books open to all. Xetra order book turnover is around 5 billion euros daily. Frankfurt floor trading is the main point of contact for smaller shares, foreign securities, funds and bonds as well as certificates and warrants, which are managed by specialists.