New York Stock Exchange is an equity (stock) exchange located at 11 Wall Street in lower Manhattan, New York, USA). It is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar value of its listed companies' securities. As of October 2008, the combined capitalization of all domestic New York Stock Exchange listed companies was US$10.1 trillion.

The NYSE is operated by NYSE Euronext, which was formed by the NYSE's 2007 merger with the fully-electronic stock exchange Euronext. The NYSE trading floor is located at 11 Wall Street and is composed of four rooms used for the facilitation of trading. A fifth trading room, located at 30 Broad Street, was closed in February 2007. The main building, located at 18 Broad Street, between the corners of Wall Street and Exchange Place, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978,National Park Service, National Historic Landmarks Survey, New York, retrieved May 31, 2007. as was the 11 Wall Street building. The Stock Exchange at 10-12 Broad street, in 1882

History

The origin of the NYSE can be traced to May 17, 1792, when the Buttonwood Agreement was signed by 24 stock brokers outside of 68 Wall Street in New York under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street. On March 8, 1817, the organization drafted a constitution and renamed itself the "New York Stock & Exchange Board". Anthony Stockholm was elected the Exchange's first president (for other presidents, see List of presidents of the New York Stock Exchange).

The first central location of the Exchange was a room, rented in 1817 for $200 a month, located at 40 Wall Street. After that location was destroyed in the Great Fire of New York (1835), the Exchange moved to a temporary headquarters. In 1863, the New York Stock & Exchange Board changed to its current name, the New York Stock Exchange. In 1865, the Exchange moved to 10-12 Broad Street.

The volume of stocks traded increased sixfold in the years between 1896 and 1901, and a larger space was required to conduct business in the expanding marketplace. Eight New York City architects were invited to participate in a design competition for a new building; ultimately, the Exchange selected the neoclassic design submitted by architect George B. Post. Demolition of the Exchange building at 10 Broad Street, and adjacent buildings, started on May 10, 1901.

The new building, located at 18 Broad Street, cost $4 million and opened on April 22, 1903. The trading floor, at 109 x 140 feet (33 x 42.5 m), was one of the largest volumes of space in the city at the time, and had a skylight set into a -high ceiling. The main façade of the building features six tall Corinthian capitals, topped by a marble sculpture by John Quincy Adams Ward, called “Integrity Protecting the Works of Man”. The building was listed as a National Historic Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 2, 1978.