Money & Finance › Markets of the world › World stock markets: about $158 trillion, 44% of it in the US
Deutsche Börse: the Frankfurt exchange and the DAX
Frankfurt since 1585; DAX 1988· Institution or agency
Fact, law or dataA rule, statute, definition or measured number.
Germany's exchange group: the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the DAX index, the Eurex derivatives market and Clearstream, which settles securities.
See it on the Money & Finance map →How it works
Frankfurt merchants began fixing currency rates at the 1585 autumn fair, the exchange's traditional founding date. The DAX launched in July 1988 (base 1,000 at end-1987) and grew from 30 to 40 companies in 2021; unlike most indexes it counts reinvested dividends, which lifts its level. Most share trading runs on the electronic Xetra system. Eurex, formed in 1998, trades Bund and Euro Stoxx 50 futures. EU regulators blocked mergers with NYSE Euronext (2012) and the London Stock Exchange (2017).
Why it matters
Frankfurt is the euro area's main hub for derivatives and settlement, and the DAX is the standard gauge of Germany's export-heavy companies.
Facts, rules and data
Deutsche Börse annual reports, STOXX index methodology documents, European Commission merger decisions of 2012 and 2017, and published exchange histories.
Debates and risks
Whether Deutsche Börse keeps growing through data and fund-services deals, as rivals have, now that regulators have blocked its big exchange mergers.
Connections (2)
▸Deutsche Börse: the Frankfurt exchange and the DAX runs Eurex, a giant in Options and other derivativesFact, law or data
The connection
Eurex, Deutsche Börse's derivatives exchange, formed in 1998 by merging Germany's DTB with Switzerland's SOFFEX. Its fully electronic trading won business from floor-based rivals, and it is now one of the world's largest derivatives exchanges, trading Euro Stoxx 50 and DAX futures and options and German bond futures, and clearing interest-rate swaps.
When and why
Frankfurt and Zurich, 1998; Eurex Clearing in Frankfurt is its central counterparty.
How we know
FIA annual exchange volume rankings and Eurex and Deutsche Börse annual reports.
Debates and risks
Whether EU rules will move much euro swap clearing from London's LCH to Eurex, and how much business would really shift.
▸Deutsche Börse: the Frankfurt exchange and the DAX hosts the Bund futures that price European government bonds: German Bunds, French OATs, Italian BTPsFact, law or data
The connection
Eurex lists futures on German government bonds: the Bund (10-year), Bobl (5-year) and Schatz (2-year). Traders use them to hedge or bet on rates, so prices often move there first, before the cash bonds. Eurex won the Bund contract from London's LIFFE in 1997–98, when electronic trading proved cheaper than the open-outcry pit.
When and why
Frankfurt and London, the 1997–98 'Battle of the Bund'; Bund futures had started at LIFFE in 1988.
How we know
Exchange volume records and histories of the shift; academic studies find Bund price discovery happens mainly in the futures.
Debates and risks
Whether French and Italian bond futures on Eurex can become benchmarks, and whether joint EU bonds might one day rival the Bund.