It has its origins in a circular wheat exchange built in 1763–67, with an open-air interior court that was later capped by a wooden dome replaced in 1811 with a copper one (supported by an iron skeletal structure).

[2] The Halle aux blés (Wheat Exchange) was designed by Nicolas Le Camus de Mézières with a circular central courtyard and a double staircase.

[6] The entrance portico is surmounted by a pediment supported by four fluted Corinthian columns on which three allegorical figures by the sculptor Aristide Croisy represent the City of Paris flanked by Trade and Abundance.

[2] The interior of the rotunda was decorated by the painters Alexis-Joseph Mazerolle, Évariste Vital Luminais, Désiré François Laugée, Georges Clairin and Hippolyte Lucas.

[5] Painted panels depict characters that symbolize North, East, South, and West, and frescoes represent the history of trade between the five continents.

[9] Many futures markets functioned at the Commodities Exchange from its inception, at first under the control of syndicates for wheat, rye and oats, flour, oil, sugar, alcohol, and rubber.

After the World War II (1939–45) the futures markets were opened gradually to international trading in goods such as white sugar, cocoa, coffee, potato, soybean meal, and rapeseed.

[10] The Syndicat Général continues to facilitate dialog and interactions between companies involved in aspects of the cereals and oil seeds trade, including collection, transportation, storage, crop protection, and finance.

In 2016, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, offered François Pinault a 50-year lease on the Bourse de Commerce for a lump sum of €15 million, plus yearly fees.

[11][12] Shortly after, the Paris City Council approved the project to transform the building into an exhibition space for contemporary art, including pieces from Pinault's private collection[13] of more than 3,500 works valued at around €1.25 billion.

[14] In 2017, Pinault publicly presented plans by architect Tadao Ando for placing a 30-foot-high concrete cylinder inside the building to be the Bourse's main exhibition gallery, at construction costs of $170 million.

The exhibit presented the works of several international artists including Urs Fischer, Kerry James Marshall, Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans, and Cindy Sherman.