Walmart stock is making a historic change today. Here’s why WMT is moving from the NYSE to the Nasdaq
It’s a historic day for both Walmart and the Nasdaq. Today, America’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer begins trading on the Nasdaq after its shares spent over half a century on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Here’s what you need to know about Walmart’s move to the Nasdaq.
What’s happened?
A week before Thanksgiving, Walmart announced that it would transfer its common stock listing from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) to the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
The move is historic for a few reasons.
The first is that Walmart (Nasdaq: WMT) shares have traded on the NYSE since 1972—the last 53 years. Walmart went public in 1970, but traded on over-the-counter markets for the first two years before joining the NYSE. That ends today.
And Walmart’s time on the NYSE was a good one. Over the last 53 years, Walmart’s stock on the NYSE has grown more than 536,000% as of yesterday’s market close. By moving to the Nasdaq, Walmart is beginning a new chapter of its financial life.
But the second reason Walmart’s move to the Nasdaq is historic is because of Walmart’s current valuation.
As of its last trading day on the NYSE yesterday, Walmart had a market cap of more than $905 billion. Its transfer from the NYSE to the Nasdaq represents the largest stock exchange transfer in history.
Other companies have moved stock exchanges in the past, but the total value of their shares was nowhere near Walmart’s.
Why is Walmart moving to the Nasdaq?
Walmart cited several reasons for its decision to move from the NYSE to the Nasdaq. But a lot of it has to do with image.
Over the past few decades, the Nasdaq has become home for the most technologically progressive, forward-thinking companies on the planet.
The Nasdaq is where all of the so-called Magnificent 7 tech companies are traded:
- Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL)
- Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN)
- Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA)
- Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT)
- Meta (Nasdaq: META)
- Alphabet (Nasdaq: GOOG)
- Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA)
All those companies have experienced tremendous growth on the Nasdaq, and they are seen as engines of America’s economic innovation.
On the other hand, the New York Stock Exchange, while a respected institution and storied marketplace, is sometimes seen as the exchange for legacy companies, such as big banks in the financial sector and other industrial stocks like automakers and agricultural companies, not to mention brick-and-mortar retailers like Target (NYSE: TGT) and Gap (NYSE: GAP).
It seems that Walmart no longer wants to be grouped with those legacy companies (and, in some cases, competitors) and instead wants to be seen as being in the same league with the country’s innovative tech giants.
(To be sure, NYSE still gets its share of high-profile tech listings, including companies like Figma and Circle Internet Group, which went public just this year.)
“Moving to Nasdaq aligns with the people-led, tech-powered approach to our long-term strategy,” Walmart’s chief financial officer, John David Rainey, said when announcing the move last month. “Walmart is setting a new standard for omnichannel retail by integrating automation and AI to build smarter, faster, and more connected experiences for customers, while enabling our associates to deliver even greater value at scale.”
In other words, the move underscores Walmart’s desire to be seen more as a tech-focused, AI-first company rather than the world’s largest legacy retailer.
As the company said in its announcement: “The move to Nasdaq underscores the strong alignment between Walmart and Nasdaq’s shared values: a technology-forward approach, delivering exceptional client value, and redefining their respective industries through innovation.”
When is Walmart moving to the Nasdaq?
Walmart moves to the Nasdaq today, Tuesday, December 9.
Walmart’s last trading day on the New York Stock Exchange was yesterday. As of the time of this writing, its shares are already trading in premarket trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market
Is Walmart getting a new ticker symbol?
No. Walmart will continue to retain its historic ticker symbol of WMT.
Are stock exchange transfers common?
They aren’t frequent events, but they aren’t uncommon. As Reuters notes, earlier this year, Shopify (Nasdaq: SHOP) and Kimberly-Clark (Nasdaq: KMB) transferred to the Nasdaq. Other companies, including CSW Industrials (NYSE: CSW) and Virtu Financial (NYSE: VIRT) transferred to the NYSE.
But what is uncommon about Walmart’s move to the Nasdaq is the sheer size of the company doing so. As The Motley Fool points out, Walmart’s current market cap makes it the largest company to ever transfer stock exchanges.
Walmart is currently worth around $905 billion. That value dwarfs the value of the next-largest company ever to switch exchanges: chemicals and gas giant Linde (Nasdaq: LIN), which moved to the Nasdaq in 2023 with a then-market value of $180 billion.
Before Linde’s move, soda maker PepsiCo (Nasdaq: PEP) was the previous largest company to switch exchanges, moving to the Nasdaq in 2017 when it had a market value of around $166 billion.
So while stock exchange transfers aren’t rare, Walmart’s stock exchange transfer is notable given the size of the company.
Could this boost Walmart’s stock price?
That’s hard to say. The most significant factor in Walmart’s future share performance will continue to be the company’s fundamentals. If Walmart continues to perform well, its stock is likely to keep rising. If it starts performing badly, the stock is likely to fall.
However, Walmart’s move to the Nasdaq could have a psychological effect on some investors, who may see the company now more as a tech-focused growth stock than a legacy retailer. That type of psychological impact could lead to greater interest in the stock, which could push up its share price.
Walmart shares could also get a boost if they are included in index funds that are compiled with stocks that mimic the makeup of the largest companies on the Nasdaq. As of today, Walmart is the ninth largest company by market cap on the Nasdaq.
How have WMT shares performed in 2025?
Walmart shares have performed well so far this year. As of yesterday’s close, WMT shares were up more than 25% for the year. At around $113.50 per share, they are near an all-time high.
And another potential milestone is also within reach. As of yesterday’s close, Walmart’s market cap was just over $905 billion. That means the company is only about $95 billion away from becoming a trillion-dollar giant.
The company’s stock price now needs to rise only about 10.5% more to cross that milestone. Walmart is clearly hoping it can do that on the Nasdaq.
