But many others died because they couldn't keep up in the technological arms race with the major exchanges, led by what later became known as the NYSE.
Some see parallels with the late 1990s, when the first generation of electronic-trading networks consolidated, or were bought by exchanges looking to get ahead in the technological arms race.
The volume of transactions processed is an important metric for exchanges as the incremental cost of processing transactions after the setup of technological infrastructure is very low.
Although merging trading systems is often the hardest part of merging exchanges, once it is done it should be easier to keep up with global technological trends.