A generation ago, the choice of where to list was closely tied to where a company’s peers and sector traded. But as U.S. market structure evolved, that relationship fundamentally changed.
Today, a company’s shares can trade across multiple venues throughout the day, with orders routed across the market in search of the best available price, regardless of where the stock is listed.
That evolution has changed the question companies should ask when choosing a listing venue. It is no longer simply, “Where should our stock trade?” Increasingly, it is, “Who do we want as our partner in the publicmarkets?”
The answer matters. A listing venue should deliver more than a place for a ticker. It should help a company succeed as a publiccompany through market quality and liquidity, technology, investor intelligence, visibility, advocacy and support throughout its public-company journey.
Beginning around 2005, a series of regulatory changes made it easier for companies to switch listing venues and select their preferred partner. Since then, more than 540 companies have switched their listings to Nasdaq, representing approximately $4 trillion in market value at the time of transfer. Those companies span a wide range of industries, including energy, healthcare, financials, and materials.
More recently, General Motors and Hilton have both announced their intention to transfer their stock listings from the New York Stock Exchange to Nasdaq. Switches and new listings data underscore Nasdaq’s leadership as a trusted partner throughout the corporate lifecycle – from cutting edge biotechnology companies entering the public markets to household names like Walmart and PepsiCo.
“Companies want confidence that their market is working for them every single day, and a listing venue shouldn’t just be a zip code for your ticker,” said Jeff Thomas, Nasdaq Executive Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer and Global Head of Listings “It’s also the visibility, the investor intelligence, the advocacy, and the fact that Nasdaq is both a market operator and a technology company investing in the infrastructure behind modern markets.”
Thomas said Nasdaq’s ambition isn’t just to win a listing. It’s to help businesses become more successful with public companies: how their stock trades, how they engage investors, and how they navigate an increasingly complex public market.
The Nasdaq Platform Advantage
Companies that have moved to Nasdaq cite a consistent set of reasons, and they are rarely about any single factor:
- Market quality and liquidity:We invest in market technology and infrastructure designed to deliver the highest levels of performance, efficiency and resilience every day, supporting tight spreads, low volatility and deep liquidity for all market participants.
- Investor intelligence and strategic insights:We provide companies with the data, technology, and intelligence to engage shareholders more effectively and efficiently, while helping them navigate an increasingly complex and evolving public-market environment, from changing investor dynamics to market developmentssuch as 23/5 trading and tokenized stocks.
- Technology and market infrastructure:Technology has always been core to Nasdaq. From pioneering electronic trading to bringing markets to the cloud and introducing AI-powered order types, we continually invest in the technology shaping the future of markets. Today, Nasdaq technology powers more than 135 markets and regulators and serves more than 3,800 financial institutions globally.
- Index innovation and access to passive capital:Nasdaq works with institutional investors and asset managers to develop innovative indexes that underpin investable products and create new pathways for companies to access the growing pool of passive capital. Today, assets tracking Nasdaq indexes span markets and asset classes globally, including more than $1 trillion across the Nasdaq-100 ecosystem.
- Community and visibility: Companies join one of the world’s most recognized communities of innovative and growth-oriented businesses, with a brand platform that amplifies corporate milestones, elevates leadership visibility, and connects companies with investors and broader audiences.
The Role of Market Structure
Beyond the broader value proposition, companies are increasingly evaluating how their stock trades and how market structure has evolved.
Nasdaq’s backend market structure and execution technology have rapidly advanced over the last decade.
Over the past seven years, including multiple periods of significant market stress, Nasdaq’s on-exchange trading volume share grew by 1.4 percentage points, a meaningful shift in a market measured in basis points.
Nasdaq also supports liquidity throughout the trading day, not just at the opening and closing auctions. That continuous participation helps promote efficient price discovery and provides investors with more opportunities to execute trades.
A Deliberate Decision
Switching exchanges is not a decision companies take lightly.
“It’s a deliberate, resource-intensive decision that involves the board, the management team, and stakeholders across the organization,” Thomas said.
“The company is choosing a partner that competes across the full public-company experience, and they’re willing to do the work to get there because the difference is real and it’s measurable.”
“Companies want a partner that connects capital with opportunity, invests in the technology and infrastructure behind resilient, transparent markets and shows up for them every day,” Thomas said.
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