NYSE Moves Into Dallas as Texas Builds a Rival Stock Exchange

The total number of U.S.-listed public companies has fallen from more than 7,300 in the late 1990s to roughly 4,300 today, a nearly 50% decline over three decades. That contraction has made retaining and recruiting listings increasingly important for traditional exchange operators.

Against that backdrop, the New York Stock Exchange is establishing a permanent presence in Texas. The dedicated “NYSE Texas” hub in Dallas comes as the newly formed Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE) secures corporate listing commitments and prepares to challenge the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq for listings, capital formation, and trading volume.

Texas has surpassed California and New York in Fortune 500 company headquarters. The state is home to relocations by Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Chevron, as well as longtime Texas-based companies including ExxonMobil and AT&T. The NYSE’s North Texas expansion is intended to protect and expand its existing listing base in a region that has become a leading destination for corporate headquarters.

NYSE President Lynn Martin discussed the changing financial landscape during an appearance on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with FOX Business.” She pointed to Texas’s regulatory policies and economic growth as major drivers of corporate relocations.

“We have about 130 listed companies with us, we’re extraordinarily excited about the opportunity in Texas as well as… the general pro-business environment that has really been created and fostered by Governor Abbott,” Martin said, referring to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

The Texas Stock Exchange announced in 2024 that it had raised roughly $120 million from prominent financial institutions, including BlackRock and Citadel Securities. Headquartered in Dallas, TXSE Group Inc. is seeking registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to operate as a fully electronic national securities exchange.

TXSE aims to capture primary and dual listings from public corporations, exchange-traded products, and private companies pursuing initial public offerings. The exchange rivalry is unfolding as financial-services power moves toward North Texas, a corridor increasingly known in the industry as “Y’all Street.”

The Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area now has the second-largest concentration of financial services workers in the United States, behind only New York City. Goldman Sachs is developing a 14-story, 800,000-square-foot regional campus near downtown Dallas for thousands of employees, with local leadership including Dallas head Aasem Khalil.

Charles Schwab moved its corporate headquarters from San Francisco to Westlake, Texas, in 2021. JPMorgan Chase has centralized major operations at a sprawling campus in Plano, while Texas has established a specialized statewide Business Court system for complex commercial and governance disputes.

The Business Court positions Texas as an alternative to Delaware’s Court of Chancery, the traditional jurisdiction of choice for U.S. public corporations. Martin said corporate interest in accessing public equity markets is gaining renewed momentum despite broader macroeconomic uncertainties.

“There’s a sense of optimism, there’s a sense of optimism that our markets are open,” Martin said. “Our markets are incredibly strong, resilient, deep liquid, and there are more and more companies that are looking to tap the best form of capital, which is the form of capital that is available uniquely in our U.S. capital markets.”