BlackRock, Citadel Back Texas Stock Exchange in Challenge to NYSE

BlackRock Inc., Citadel Securities and other investors are backing an upstart Texas stock market, laying down a challenge to the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Inc. and signaling a potential boost for a state trying to grab more of the financial services industry.

The Texas Stock Exchange has raised $120 million and plans to file registration documents with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a LinkedIn post by James Lee, the exchange’s chief executive officer.

The Texas bourse will try to entice companies seeking relief from rising compliance costs at the NYSE and Nasdaq, Lee told the Wall Street Journal, which earlier reported the development. While entirely electronic, Lee said the TXSE will be headquartered in Dallas, bolstering a metro area that has been gaining financial jobs from the likes of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Charles Schwab Corp.

“The Texas Stock Exchange will focus on enabling US and global companies to access US equity capital markets and will provide a venue to trade and list public companies and the growing universe of exchange-traded products,” the TXSE said in a statement.

The exchange aims to handle its first trades in 2025 and host its first listing in 2026, Lee told the Journal. A spokesperson for Ken Griffin’s Citadel confirmed the company is an investor in the project. BlackRock said the project would “increase liquidity and improve market efficiency” for its clients and other investors.