What Is The NYSE?

The NYSE or New York Stock Exchange is the world’s largest stock exchange, capitalizing on more than $10 trillion worth of company stock.  Located in Manhattan, New York City, New York, the NYSE is more than just the largest stock exchange; it is by far the most important and most well known.  Also referred to as simply Wall Street due to its address, the NYSE is sometimes known as the stock market, meaning the others simply follow its lead and moves.  Established in 1903 officially, the NYSE has been the cornerstone of stock market trading in the United States and the example to be copied the world over.  The NYSE is open from 9:30am to 4:00pm Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.

What The NYSE Does

The NYSE handles trades of stock sales and buys between investors of SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) approved and registered publicly traded companies.  The floor of the NYSE is where all the action takes place on this stock market.  Sellers and buyers clamor to make their stock traded on behalf of the investors they represent from stock price auctioneers.  The clamor continues until the closing of the market when the bell sounds at 4:00pm.  In years past all stocks were traded in this manner, grouped onto pieces of paper and manually fired or executed.  In 2007 the NYSE introduced direct trade access using ECNs (Electronic Communication Networks) which allow investors to execute their trades completely digitally.  Within 3 months of its introduction, 82% of all trades were traded using this computer system.

Historical Dow Moves And Events

1792 – NYSE gets its first stocks for trading purposes

1906 – Dow first passes 100 mark

1907 –Infamous stock panic of 1907, market nearly collapses

1914 – World War 1 forces closure of markets temporarily leading to largest ever single say loss in December of 24%

1915 – Market prices are issued in USD

1943 – Women first allowed in NYSE trading floor

1971 – NYSE registers as a Non-Profit organization

1972 – Dow sits passes 1,000 mark

1977 – Foreign stockbrokers allowed access to NYSE

1987 – The infamous Black Monday on October 18th, market losses more than 22% in a single trading day

1991 – Dow first passes 3,000

1995 – Dow first passes 5,000

1996 – A real-time stock ticker is installed

1999 – March 29th Dow passes 10,000

2007 – January 7th, sitting President George W. Bush arrives with no warning to inform investors of a .5% increase in fed interest rates

2008 – the DJIA loses more than 500 points in a single day, September 15th

2009 – Dow once again back to 10,000

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  5. What Is A Stock?

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