New York Stock Exchange

For many years, more securities were exchanged on the New York Stock Exchange than any other trading floor in the world.  This made the NYSE not only the busiest exchange in the world, but also the most prestigious.  While the NYSE may no longer be leagues ahead of its rivals, the pictures of its chaotic trading floor will forever be the image of what happens every trading day on Wall Street.

History of the NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange traces its history back to what is called the Buttonwood Agreement of 1792.  In that agreement, twenty-four brokers and merchants decided to trade securities on a commission basis.  In that same year a total of five securities were traded in New York City.

By 1817 the New York brokers establish a formal organization - the New York Stock & Exchange Board.  This group laid down the foundation for rules of business conduct that enable the New York Stock Exchange to make today's claim that they are the largest self-regulated organization in the world.

Between the years 1828 and 1835, the volume on the exchange floor increases 50 fold and average daily volume now exceeds 8,000 shares.  By 1863, the New York Stock and Exchange Board adopt the shorter name of the New York Stock Exchange.  Two years later they move into 10-12 Broad Street - establishing the corner of Wall Street and Broad as the trading capital of the world.

On December 15, 1886, the NYSE hits another milestone when over one million shares exchange hands that day.  Interestingly, October 10, 1953 marks the last time that less one million shares are exchanged.

Milestones of the NYSE

Talking about milestones, we'd thought it would be interesting to summarize some of the more intriguing milestones realized by the NYSE over the last 50 years or so:

• 1961 - Average trading volume exceeds 4 millions shares per day.
• 1967 - Muriel Siebert becomes the first woman is allowed to become a member of the exchange.
• 1970 - Joseph Searles becomes the first black member of the exchange.
• 1982 - The NYSE hits another trading milestone when over 100 million shared are exchanged in just one day.
• 1987 - On October 19, also known as Black Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average experiences it largest one-day percentage drop.
• 1992 - The average daily volume on the exchange now exceeds 200 million shares.
• 1997 - On October 27, volume on the exchange tops one billion shares for the first time.
• 2005 - On June 24, the NYSE experiences its largest single volume trading day when over 3 billion shared are exchanged.
• 2005 - On August 3, the highest price ever is paid for NYSE membership at $3 million.  (The lowest price paid was $2,750 back in 1871.)

Merger with Euronext

In what was referred to as a "merger of equals" on April 4, 2007 the New York Stock Exchange finalized its merger with Euronext.  Under terms of the deal, each NYSE share was converted into one share of common stock in the merged company - NYSE Euronext.  As explained by NYSE Group boss John Thain:

"A partnership with Euronext fulfils our shared vision of building a truly global marketplace with great breadth of product and geographic reach that will benefit all investors, issuers, and our shareholders and stakeholders."

Acquisition of the American Stock Exchange

In January 2008, NYSE Euronext announced it was acquiring the American Stock Exchange for $260 million in stock.  The deal was completed on October 1, 2008 and the exchange was re-branded as the NYSE Amex Equities.

NYSE Today

Today, roughly 1.6 billion shares worth roughly $45 billion are exchanged daily on the floor of the NYSE.  There are currently around 8,500 companies (November 2009) listed on the exchange with a capitalization of nearly $17 trillion.

To be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the company must have in excess of 2,200 shareholders with an average daily trading volume of at least 100,000 shares.  Generally, the company must have a total capitalization of $750 million or pretax earnings in excess of $10 million.  There are several combinations, but the bottom line is that you need to be either very big or very profitable to make it onto the NYSE.

NYSE Holiday Trading Schedule

The following are the holiday schedules for the NYSE for the calendar years 2008, 2009 and 2010.

NYSE Euronext 2010 Holiday Schedule

The NYSE Trading Floor will close early Friday, November 26, 2010 (the day after Thanksgiving); and on December 24, 2010 and December 31, 2010, cash markets will close at 1:00 p.m.