What is the name of the most famous stock market index in the world?

Olivia Jones, Dow Jones, Tom Jones or Norah Jones?

OK, the question was simple.

But in which market situation is the forward price of a financial instrument below the expected spot price at maturity?

The fact that this is backwardation is much more tricky.

The stock exchange asks these questions in its interactive quiz in the new visitor center.

There, visitors can compete against each other or test their stock market knowledge on their own in the easy, medium and difficult categories.

Those who have taken a close look at the new exhibition beforehand have a clear advantage.

Daniel Mohr

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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Four years ago, Deutsche Börse started investing heavily in the "New Stock Exchange" on the stock exchange in the heart of Frankfurt.

Contrary to what the name "new" might suggest, the building dates from the 19th century.

The workplaces for radio and television journalists have been modernised.

For companies going public, there are new rooms called the X-Lounge, which can also be rented for other events.

And visits to the stock exchange are significantly simplified.

In the past, only group tours were often possible, and they were limited to the visitors' gallery above the large trading hall.

This area is now the conclusion of the new visitor center.

Before that, the exhibition is much larger and is open to everyone free of charge.

From July 1, the stock exchange will offer 70 people the opportunity to view the new exhibition Monday to Friday at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Registration is required on deutsche-boerse.com.

The opening Friday is already fully booked.

But there are still many appointments available for next week.

Spontaneous visits are also possible, provided the dates are not fully booked.

Why is it called Bull and Bear?

In the visitor center, a spiral staircase leads to the first floor in the historic stock exchange building and welcomes visitors with a price board whose clattering letters are a famous noise from the Frankfurt trading floor.

However, nothing clicks here at first.

Instead, five people talk about their stock market experiences on a video wall.

Pupil Max (16) from Darmstadt, for example, or pensioner Werner (65) from Hamburg.

The history of the building is documented in historical pictures, and the first traded share, that of the Austrian National Bank, is also on display.

In the large exhibition room there is a lot of information about stock exchanges, trade and investments.

If you are interested in the organization of the sponsoring company of the stock exchange, you will find the corresponding organizational charts here.

Even those who want to prepare as well as possible for the quiz can find out more about the touchscreens with more than 500 text entries.

If that is too dry for you, you can see the bull and bear sculptures at various stock exchange locations around the world through peepholes.

A peephole also allows a live view of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange directly in front of the door.

Why did bull and bear come about as symbols for the stock market in the first place?

Here, too, there is of course the explanation in the visitor center: exhibition fights between bull and bear in London in the 17th century were the origin.

The bear always flapped its paw from top to bottom.

Since then, downward rates have been considered a bear market.

The bull, in turn, came with his head low and tried to impale his opponent in an upward movement.

Since then it has symbolized rising prices on the stock exchange.

If you want to see what movements a share portfolio has made in the past decades, you can put together different portfolios at an interactive table using a touchscreen and notice, for example, that it would have been wise to hold your Bayer shares longer than just until the year 2000 , but that it would have been even wiser to buy a Dax ETF or Sartorius shares.

Visitors can take the quiz at the discarded trade barriers from the 1980s.

If you pick up the phone there, you will hear a short trading scene from the call-to-action trade of the time.

A few steps later, the contrast becomes apparent when you look from the balcony at the current trading floor.

There are far fewer traders sitting in front of all the more screens.

There hasn't been any screaming for a long time.

After all, traders will be required to be present again from July, when the trading floor will no longer be quite as deserted as it was during the pandemic.

Anyone can prove themselves as a stock market reporter at a selfie station.

The stock exchange has estimated almost 20 million euros for the renovation of the "New Stock Exchange".

According to Bastian Lange, who is responsible for the visitor center at the stock exchange, among other things, there should be more.

A few conference areas are not ready yet.

The visitor center has been there for almost two years, but Corona has repeatedly thwarted the opening.

How many openings were planned?

Not even the initiated could answer this quiz question spontaneously.