[6][7] Shareholders of the Borsa İstanbul are (as of 2024) :[9] The origin of an organized securities market in Turkey has its roots in the second half of the 19th century.

Following the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, a new law was enacted in 1929 to reorganize the fledgling capital markets under the new name of "Istanbul Securities and Foreign Exchange Bourse".

During the industrial drive of the subsequent decades, there was a continuous increase in the number and size of joint stock companies, which began to open up their equity to the public.

The regulations concerning operational procedures were approved in the parliament and the Istanbul Stock Exchange was formally inaugurated at the end of 1985.

[2] The current logo of Borsa Istanbul is the traditional flower of Istanbul's imperial gardens, the tulip, also the namesake of the Tulip period in Ottoman history, which was first introduced to the Europeans in Vienna, 1554, as a gift by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, of the House of Habsburg.

[14]: 12 There is a four-meter high marble statue of the "Bull and Bear", in front of the ISE building's protocol entrance.

Created by one of Turkey's foremost sculptors, Mehmet Aksoy, the statue symbolizes the behavior of the world's stock markets, an aggressive bull poised to attack the surrendering bear.