Have you ever wondered what a stock exchange is?

Although it may seem like a complex and difficult-to-access environment, exchanges are nothing more than a trading environment  where the buying and selling of financial assets such as stocks, government bonds, commodities, among others, takes place.

It operated for over 150 years and, over the decades, played a central role in the Brazilian financial landscape, maintaining its prominent position until the 1980s.

It was the first stock exchange in São Paulo. It arose from the idea of a group of brokers led by Emílio Rangel Pestana. Due to the political and economic crisis of the time, it lasted just over a year.

Initially the Public Funds Exchange of São Paulo, it became the São Paulo Official Stock Exchange until 1965, transitioning to civil societies.  In the late 1990s, Bovespa began a process of incorporating other Brazilian exchanges.

Created by a group of São Paulo traders to negotiate agricultural contracts, primarily for cotton and coffee. Due to its nature, it was essential in the development and expansion of the commodities market in Brazil.

Its purpose was to register, clear, and custody private securities, a segment that involves the buying and selling of assets without going through exchange systems - over-the-counter market, such as Certificates of Deposit (CDs), debentures, and letters of exchange.

Created by the Bovespa board of directors to trade derivative contracts, such as futures of commodities, currencies, gold, interest rates, among others. The futures market offers the investor the right to trade a product at a pre-defined price at a future date.

The exchange experienced rapid growth, due mainly to gold contracts and hedge operations [a sort of price insurance] with agricultural commodities [standardized goods for export].

The result of the integration of the operations of the Bolsa de Mercadorias and the Bolsa Mercantil de São Paulo, it kept the acronym BM&F.

BM&F has emerged as Brazil's largest exchange specializing in trading futures contracts of commodities – like gold, live cattle, soy, coffee, and cotton – and futures contracts of interest rates and currencies.

Created from the merger between Bovespa and BM&F, it assumed the position of the main institution in the Brazilian capital market, providing systems for trading, settlement, registration, and custody for the markets of equities, derivatives, fixed-income securities, and federal government bonds.

Formed from the merger between Cetip and BM&FBOVESPA, B3 is one of the world's leading financial market infrastructure companies, operating over-the-counter and the only stock exchange operating in Brazil.

Want to learn more about stocks exchanges and how they connect with Brazil's economic history?

Come visit MUB3 and look forward to the next exhibitions!