Origin of the Thailand Stock Exchange dates back to the year 1962, when an organized stock exchange was established by a private group. The name was later changed to Bangkok Stock Exchange Co. Ltd in 1963. Due to lack of professional management, the Bangkok Stock Exchange ceased operations in the early 1970s. The Securities Exchange of Thailand has since replaced the Bangkok Stock Exchange.

SET is one of the many trading centers around the globe with a fully computerized and automated trading system. There are two principal methods of trading in the SET. These include the automatic order matching (AOM) and the Put-Through transactions (PT). The Stock Exchange of Thailand operates only 5 days in a week from Monday to Friday. The trading sessions are divided into morning session, which is from 10.00 AM to 12.30 PM and evening session that is from 2.30 PM to 4.30 PM. All the operations in the SET are done as per the legal guidelines established under the Securities and Exchange Act, 1992.

Primary operations of the SET include trading securities listed on the exchange, supervision of listed companies and disclosure of information, market surveillance and member supervision, and investor education. Another major responsibility is to encourage public to invest in shares and become shareholders. Performance of the Stock Exchange of Thailand is assessed based on various different market indices like the SET INDEX, SET50 INDEX and SET100 INDEX.