Founded in 1792, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is today the world´s largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies. In 2021, the market capitalization for NYSE exceeded 26 trillion USD.
They NYSE building is located in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States
Ownership
The New York Stock Exchange is owned by Intercontinental Exchange, and United States-based holding company.
Indices
The main indices for NYSE are the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the NYSE Composite.
Trading
Since January 24, 2007, all NYSE stocks have been available for trade via NYSE´s electronic hybrid market, except for a few very high-priced shares. This means that customers can send order for immediate electronic execution, or route order to the floor for trade in the auction market.
NYSE is open for trading Monday – Friday from 09:30 am to 04:00 pm ET, except for holidays declared by the Exchange in advance.
Emergencies sometimes necessitate a temporary closure, such as the September 11 attacks in 2001 when NYSE closed for four sessions, or the Hurricane Sandy of 2012 which closed the exchange on March 12 and 13. On July 8, 2015, trading was halted at 11:32 am due to technical issues, but resumed at 3:10 pm that same day.
In March 2020, NYSE temporarily moved to all-electronic trading due to the Covid19 pandemic. NYSE reopened normally again in late May, 2020.
Bells mark the start en end of each trading day
The beginning and end of each trading day at NYSE are marked by the ringing of the main bells, which are controlled by a green button. (The backup bells are controlled by a red button.)
There are also a single-stroke bell that is rung to signal a moment of silence. It is controlled by an orange button. All three buttons are found on a control panel behind the podium which overlooks the trading floor.
Holidays
Holidays when the NYSE is closed: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Washington’s Birthday, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
When any of those holidays fall on a weekend, the holiday is observed on the closest weekday.
The Stock Exchange closes early on the day before Independence Day, the day after Thanksgiving, and on Christmas Eve.
The NYSE averages about 253 trading days per year.
The building
The NYSE trading floor is found inside the New York Exchange Building on 11 Wall Street and 18 Broad Street on Lower Manhattan. (An addition trading room used to be open at 30 Broad Street, but this trading room was closed in February 2007.)
The main New York Stock Exchange Building, designed in the Beaux Arts style by George B. Post, was built in 1903. The adjacent structure on 11 Wall Street was added in 1922, designed in a similar style but by Trowbridge & Livingston. Since 1978, both buildings have been listed as National Historical Landmarks.
Background
In March 1792, twenty-four of New York´s leading security merchants / brokers held a secret meeting at Corre´s Hotel, where the goal was to bring some order to the securities trading in New York City.
On May 17, 1792, outside of 68 Wall Street, these twenty-four “Brokers for the Purchase and Sale of Public Stock” signed the Buttonwood Agreement, to organize their securities trading in New York City. Among other things, the signers committed to give preference to each other (and thus cut out the auctioneers) and to never charge less than 0.25% commission.
During this era when the Buttonwood Agreement was signed, securities trading was taking place in various offices and coffee houses in the city, but in the year following the signing of the agreement trading was centralized to the Tontine Coffee House on the corner of Wall street and Water street.
1817 Reorganization
The constitution of the New York Stock and Exchange Board was adopted in 1817, inspired by the board of brokers in Philadelphia. The New York broker organization also began renting out space exclusively for securities trading, instead of making do with the Tontine Coffee House.
1863 name change
In 1863, the name was changed from the New York Stock and Exchange Board to the New York Stock Exchange.
Rivalry and merger
The Open Board of Stock Brokers were formed in 1864 to compete with the older organization, and became popular for using a more modern, continuous trading system instead of NYSE`s twice-daily call sessions. With 354 members, it was definitely a serious rival to NYSE (which had 533 members). The rivalry was to be short-lived however, as the two organizations merged in 1869.