The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has it’s early roots in moving the war debt of the Revolutionary War. That’s right, we’re talking 1790. The federal government refinanced it’s debt into bonds (a whopping $80 million, can we say Bill Gate’s dryer change?) which were publicly traded securities. By 1792 two bank stocks were added to the exchange. In 1836, trading around 8000 shares a day, the NYSE banned trading in the streets. In 1844 the telegraph was invented broadening the stock market trading world outside of New York City. Fast forward to 1863, surviving one crash of an insurance trust and a civil war, the NYSE officially becomes the New York Stock Exchange.
The exchange pretty much evolved from there applying new technologies (tickers, phones, computers) and dealing with each scandal (bad accounting, watering stocks (unauthorized share dilution)) by applying new rules and regulations to protect the investors the NYSE has matured to where it is today:
- 5 billion daily shares traded
- Has expanded into options and futures
- Recently Acquired AMEX
- Almost completely electronic trading (except a few really high priced stocks)
Thousands plan a New York Stock Exchange visit each year as it’s an American symbol of capitalism.
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- ETF’s in Stock Market Investing
- Stock Symbol
- Stock Market for Beginners
- The Chinese Stock Market
- Stock Market ETF (Exchange Traded Fund)
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