The Lone Star Takes on Wall Street
By: Caden Warner – Director of Investments
Contributing Editor: Nathan Li
Backed by major investors, the Texas Stock Exchange is quickly becoming a reality.
With plans first announced in June 2024, the day of listing shares continues to move closer for the Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE). This Dallas-based listing venue, which takes direct aim at New York’s dominance in U.S. equities, is set to open in 2026 after receiving SEC approval at the end of September. With the number of publicly traded companies in the U.S. falling by roughly 45% over the past 25 years, TXSE aims to reverse this trend through the establishment of a fully electronic exchange.
Texas, and Dallas specifically, offers a powerful combination of economic scale, business climate, and corporate presence that makes it an ideal location for this new exchange. The state is home to more than 50 Fortune 500 companies and over one in ten U.S. public corporations, establishing itself as a major financial hub. Texas’s economy is enormous and diverse, spanning energy, finance, technology, and manufacturing sectors. Perhaps most importantly, Texas’s regulatory and tax environment is widely regarded as one of the most business-friendly in the nation, supported by Governor Greg Abbott’s pro-business legislation passed earlier this year. These characteristics make Dallas a prime location for a modern exchange.
TXSE also seeks to capitalize on growing disaffection with regulatory complexity and higher listing fees at Nasdaq and NYSE. Newer rules such as Nasdaq’s board diversity requirements have introduced additional layers of compliance for public companies. Backers of TXSE pledge that the new exchange will be more CEO-friendly, offering predictable listing standards, lower costs, and fewer administrative burdens.
Founder and CEO James Lee summarized the vision succinctly, stating that the goal is to “create more competition around quote activity, liquidity, and transparency.”
So far, TXSE has raised over $250 million in capital from some of the largest players in global finance, including Citadel, J.P. Morgan, BlackRock, and Charles Schwab. This level of support gives the exchange a strong foundation as it prepares for launch and tackles its most critical challenge: building sustained trading volume and liquidity.
The development of the Texas Stock Exchange is one of the most intriguing financial stories in recent years, carrying lasting implications for investors and corporations alike. Despite the favorable conditions, launching a new national exchange is no small feat. Many have tried and failed to effectively disrupt the duopoly between the NYSE and Nasdaq. If successful, TXSE could mark the beginning of a new era – where the future of American finance extends beyond Wall Street and takes root in the heart of Texas.