TSE, TSX, etc., info on Canadian Markets and Acronyms
Just wanted to clear up a little confusion, and there's plenty of reason for confusion after all the changes in acronyms over the last several years regarding the Canadian exchanges.
The TSE and the TSX are the same thing. Today, there are only two major exchanges in Canada: the TSX and the TSX Venture. They are both owned by the TSX Group (ticker symbol X on the TSX).
A little background. The exchanges used to all be by geography. There was the Toronto Exchange (TSE), Vancouver Exchange (VSE), Alberta Exchange (ASE), and Montreal Exchange. The Vancouver and Alberta generally had the biggest scams with the Vancouver leading the way.
Finally, someone figured out that scams are very destructive for everyone in the long run, and they decided to clean things up. As part of that process, the Vancouver and Alberta merged to form what was at the time called the Canadian Venture Exchange (CDNX). The Toronto exchange later bought the CDNX, and the combined entity was named the TSX Group. I guess as part of their branding, they decided to start referring to the big board as the TSX and the smaller board as the TSX Venture. In most interviews now you'll hear someone say something like "does it trade on the TSX or the Venture?"
There's also a third tier that just started awhile ago, this is called the Nex. All of these have a .H at the end of the symbol, but these are not usually stocks anyone here would dabble in.
But bottom line, the stocks whose symbols have ".TO" trade on the TSX, and the ones that have ".V" trade on the TSX Venture. (On Stockhouse, they show them as :TSX or :TSX-V)
I would also agree that things have gotten far, far better in Canada. They actually tend to read the filings and will make a company change things if something isn't right. They're not afraid to halt stocks or issue cease trading orders. I'd say the Venture is quite a bit better than OTCBB. On the BB, guys just run a scam, pump it up, the whole things collapses, buy back the float, claim to have changed businesses, and start the process again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Canada is usually much quicker to cease trading.
There can always be a scam anywhere, but Canada does just as good a job as anyone now.
