The Amsterdam Stock Exchange, founded in 1602, is generally recognized as the world’s first modern stock exchange.
It emerged alongside the Dutch East India Company, or VOC, which was established in 1602. The company issued shares that investors could buy and sell, creating an organized secondary market and making long-term ownership more transferable. This helped turn Amsterdam into a major center of global finance during the Dutch Golden Age.
The exchange is often called the first stock exchange because it introduced continuous trading in company shares rather than simply arranging occasional transactions in commodities or government debt. That distinction matters: earlier markets existed, but Amsterdam pioneered the institutional trading of publicly issued corporate stock.
A common mix-up is the date 1792, associated with the Buttonwood Agreement that laid the foundation for the New York Stock Exchange. The Amsterdam exchange later became part of Euronext Amsterdam, but its origins remain tied to the VOC and the year 1602.