Amsterdam Stock Exchange in the context of "Stock exchange"

The United East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie [vərˈeːnɪɣdə oːstˈɪndisə kɔmpɑˈɲi]; abbr. VOC [veː(j)oːˈseː]), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies, it was granted a 21-year monopoly to carry out trade activities in Asia. Shares in the company could be purchased by any citizen of the Dutch Republic and bought and sold in open-air secondary markets, one of which became the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. The company possessed quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies. Because it traded across multiple colonies and countries from both the East and the West, the VOC is sometimes considered to have been the world's first multinational corporation.

Statistically, the VOC eclipsed all of its rivals in the Asian trade. Between 1602 and 1796, the VOC sent nearly a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships, and netted for their efforts more than 2.5 million tons of Asian trade goods and slaves. By contrast, the rest of Europe combined sent 882,412 people from 1500 to 1795. The fleet of the English, later British East India Company, the VOC's nearest competitor, was a distant second to its total traffic, with 2,690 ships and one-fifth the tonnage of goods carried by the VOC. The VOC enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly and slave trading activities through most of the 17th century.

Euronext Paris, formerly known as the Paris Bourse (French: Bourse de Paris), is a regulated securities trading venue in France. It is Europe's second largest stock exchange by market capitalization, behind the London Stock Exchange, as of December 2023. As of 2022, the 795 companies listed had a combined market capitalization of over US$4.58 trillion.

Since September 2000, the Paris Bourse has been part of Euronext, of which it was a co-founder together with the Amsterdam Stock Exchange and Brussels Stock Exchange. It was subsequently rebranded Euronext Paris.

A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include securities listed on a public stock exchange as well as stock that is only traded privately, such as shares of private companies that are sold to investors through equity crowdfunding platforms. Investments are usually made with an investment strategy in mind.

A stock trader or equity trader or share trader, also called a stock investor, is a person or company involved in trading equity securities and attempting to profit from the purchase and sale of those securities. Stock traders may be an investor, agent, hedger, arbitrageur, speculator, or stockbroker. Such equity trading in large publicly traded companies may be through a stock exchange. Stock shares in smaller public companies may be bought and sold in over-the-counter (OTC) markets or in some instances in equity crowdfunding platforms.

Stock traders can trade on their own account, called proprietary trading or self-directed trading, or through an agent authorized to buy and sell on the owner's behalf. That agent is referred to as a stockbroker. Agents are paid a commission for performing the trade. Proprietary or self-directed traders who use online brokerages (e.g., Fidelity, Interactive Brokers, Schwab, tastytrade) benefit from commission-free trades.

The Brussels Stock Exchange (French: Bourse de Bruxelles [buʁs də bʁysɛl]; Dutch: Beurs van Brussel [ˈbøːrs fɑm ˈbrʏsəl]), abbreviated to BSE, was founded in Brussels, Belgium, by decree of Napoleon in 1801. In 2000, the BSE merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon and Paris stock exchanges into Euronext, renaming the BSE Euronext Brussels. The benchmark stock market index on the BSE is the BEL 20.

The former Brussels Stock Exchange building, known as the Bourse Palace (French: Palais de la Bourse; Dutch: Beurspaleis) and usually shortened to la Bourse (in French) or de Beurs (in Dutch), is located on the Place de la Bourse/Beursplein along the Boulevard Anspach/Anspachlaan. The BSE is now headquartered in the Marquis building. It can be accessed from Brussels-Central railway station.