The first batch of 81 firms started trading on Monday, including 10 initial public offerings from companies in tech and manufacturing.
The exchange’s launch is of strategic significance to Xi’s economic and political vision.
It comes at time when Xi has been cracking down on some of the country’s biggest tech giants, which had until recently been growing at an almost unbridled pace.
In 2018, as the US-China trade war raged, Xi unveiled a board for startups on the Shanghai Stock Exchange — the Star Market — which focuses on companies with “core technologies in key fields,” such as high-end semiconductors and computer processors.
The Beijing Stock Exchange will “complement” the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges and focus on serving innovative smaller firms, the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission said in September.
Mainland China’s major stock exchanges are located far from the country’s political center in the north.
On Sunday, the Cyberspace Administration of China proposed tougher rules for tech firms planning overseas listings.