By Suzanne McGee
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The fledgling Texas Stock Exchange on Thursday scored another victory against established New York trading venues, convincing three related energy partnerships to shift their primary listing from the New York Stock Exchange to Dallas.
In the latest announcements, pipeline operator Energy Transfer, midstream energy services provider USA Compression Partners and fuel distribution firms Sunoco LP and SunocoCorp LLC said their primary listings
will move to the TXSE in early October.
Last month Texas Capital Bancshares announced two of its ETFs would leave the NYSE in favor of the TXSE. The move was another win for the startup exchange, which began trading in July, as it seeks to establish itself as a bona fide rival to its much larger counterparts.
James Lee, chairman and CEO of TXSE, described the announcements as "a watershed moment for capital markets" and "the beginning of a larger trend that will reshape the broader listings landscape in the United States."
The entities shifting their primary listing to the TXSE have a combined market capitalization of nearly $100 billion, he added.
The ability of TXSE to present a real challenge to the NYSE and to Nasdaq will hinge largely on its ability to translate the state's efforts to market itself as a business-friendly alternative into a series of such switches, according to analysts of market structure.
"That isn't as simple as it sounds," says one analyst, who asked not to be named, citing his firm's policies on public comments on market structure topics. "Previous attempts to do just this haven't gained much traction."
While trading takes place across numerous platforms, the NYSE and Nasdaq have been able to maintain control of primary listings for several decades as the stock exchange world consolidated.
That means these exchanges capture the biggest slice of opening and closing trading volumes as well as listing fees, data fees and other sources of revenue. They have maintained that edge by offering perks like the ability for listed company executives to ring opening or closing bells or host events at exchange facilities.
The TXSE is hoping to shift the focus of corporate boards away from those marketing benefits and the massive liquidity the two incumbents offer by emphasizing business-friendly legislative and regulatory initiatives taken in Texas.
Some companies already have moved their corporate headquarters to Texas, including the suite of businesses controlled by Elon Musk, notably Tesla and SpaceX, and oil giant ExxonMobil, citing a Texas law passed in 2025 that enhanced legal protections for businesses against shareholder litigation.
So far, these giants have not moved to shift their primary listings to the TXSE, however. Likewise, companies that list on TXSE must also be incorporated in Texas to benefit from any advantages offered by the state's laws and regulations.
Both the NYSE and Nasdaq have established their own Texas branches in a direct response to the TXSE's push to win listings.
TXSE is backed by Wall Street investors such as BlackRock, Citadel Securities and Charles Schwab. That list of backers also includes Kelcy Warren, a Texas-based billionaire who as of 2025 had a significant stake in TXSE Group, according to an SEC filing, and who is executive chairman of Energy Transfer.
(Reporting by Suzanne McGee; editing by Colin Barr and Cynthia Osterman)
