History of the Exchange

Efforts to create a stock exchange date back to the reign of the Empress Maria Theresa, but success was not achieved until 1871. Initially, both securities and commodities were traded at the Prague exchange. The Prague exchange enjoyed great success in the sugar trade, becoming a key market for the whole Austro-Hungarian Empire.

After World War I, however, this type of transaction declined, so thereafter only securities were traded. For the Prague exchange, the interwar period became the era of its greatest boom. The Prague exchange even surpassed the Vienna exchange in importance. This period of prosperity was, however, interrupted by the arrival of World War II, bringing an end to trading at the Prague exchange for more than 60 years. Not until after the fall of Communism was it possible to follow up on the exchange’s heritage of success and prosperity.

With the first trades made on the floor of the renewed exchange on 6 April 1993, the Prague Stock Exchange began to write its modern history.