The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest securities exchange in the world. It was established in 1792 at 68 Wall Street, New York USA where 24 brokers and merchants outlined the rules for trading securities in the Buttonwood Agreement.
In 1971, NYSE became a not-for-profit corporation, and in 2006, a publicly-traded company. It was also during this time when traders and the public started using an electronic system to trade stocks. In 2007, NYSE merged with Euronext, and in 2008, NYSE acquired the American Stock Exchange. The Intercontinental Exchange later purchased the NYSE for $8.2 billion.
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NYSE opens at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, and closes at 4:00 p.m. It is open from Monday to Friday and apart from Saturday and Sunday it is also closed on 9 other days i.e., New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day (Washington’s Birthday), Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
NYSE is famous for its trading floor which allows stockbrokers to send orders through either the electronic platform or to the trading floor where orders are carried out by floor brokers.
It is the largest securities exchange in the world, hosting 82% of the S&P 500, as well as 70 of the biggest corporations in the world and its stocks are traded by investors worldwide.