Before the stock exchange was founded, all of the proceedings and decisions were handled regarding borrowing national loans issued at the time were conducted at the historic café "l Orea Ellas". Above the traditional coffee house in Monastiraki, which incidentally still exists today, was the Athens Merchants Club, wherein the most influential economic experts of Athens of the 20th Century passed through.

Today, the Athens stock market is state-of-the-art and offers trade and investment platforms for the Greek market, Cyprus, and the Balkans. In 1991, the first electronic trading system was put into operation as part of the modernization of the capital market. In 1995, the Athens Stock Exchange was transformed into a public limited company, initially with the Greek State as the sole shareholder. A few years later, the Greek State sold more than 50% of the share capital to investors and in 2000 the Hellenic Exchanges (HELEX), founded as a holding company, took over all stock exchange shares.

The prestigious location of the old neoclassical building in the center of Athens at 10 Sofokleous Street was closed in 2007 after more than 130 years and the exchange found a new home in a modern HELEX building complex on Athinon Avenue.

The Athens Stock Exchange currently operates in 5 markets: A regulated securities market, a regulated derivatives market, an alternative market, a carbon market (for EUAs), and an OTC market. On the regulated securities market, investors can trade in shares, bonds, ETFs, and other related securities. Additionally, the Athens Stock Exchange has over 30 indices and has been cooperating with the Cyprus Stock Exchange since 2006.

The trading hours of the Athens Stock Exchange are daily from Monday to Friday, from 10:00 to 17:20.