The Lone Star State is getting its own stock exchange, TXSE Group announced Wednesday. The exchange, to be headquartered in Dallas, is backed by heavy-hitter investors like BlackRock and Citadel Securities. But considering the nationalized and online nature of trading today, does the South really need its own exchange?

Word of the Texas Stock Exchange came as positive news to John Diamond, director of the Center for Public Finance at Rice University’s Baker Institute.

“Not just because I live in Texas, but I think it’s great because it adds competition,” he said.

It’s another place where companies can go to access capital besides the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange. And, he said, Dallas is a strategic city. 

“The financial sector, there’s enough headquartered public companies in Texas to make it make sense,” he said. 

But trading isn’t happening where it used to, said Jonah Crane with financial advisory firm Klaros Group.

“For a fully electronic exchange, having the exchange located in Texas really just means that you have a bunch of data centers located in Texas. Most exchanges are not physical places where trading takes place in person,” he said.

It’s not so much about Texas, but getting away from the growing list of rules that the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have imposed in recent years. One example:

“Any company that lists on the Nasdaq exchange has to observe certain board diversity requirements. That’s become a somewhat controversial requirement,” Crane said.

But to compete with the New York exchanges, the Texas Stock Exchange will have to focus on attracting a large trade volume, said Michigan State University law professor Geeyoung Min.

“Even if their purpose is to provide a very different set of regulatory rules, they still need to focus on the fundamentals yet to achieve that goal,” she said.

Fundamentals like a reliable platform and lower fees.