The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the "Big Board", is a stock exchange based in New York City. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and has 2,764 listed securities. It ranks fourth in the world in terms of company listings with 3,200 companies, behind the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) of India, London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. As of December 31, 2006, the combined capitalization of all New York Stock Exchange listed companies was $25.0 trillion.

The NYSE is operated by NYSE Euronext, which was formed by the NYSE's merger with the fully electronic stock exchange Euronext. The New York Stock Exchange 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.

Business

The New York Stock Exchange gives an efficient method for buyers and sellers to trade shares of stock in companies registered for public trading. The exchange provides price discovery via an auction environment designed to produce the fairest price for both parties. Since September 30, 1985, the NYSE trading hours have been 9:30–16:00 ET on all days of the week except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays declared by the Exchange in advance.

As of January 24, 2007, all NYSE stocks can be traded via its electronic Hybrid Market (except for a small group of very high-priced stocks). Customers can now send orders for immediate electronic execution, or route orders to the floor for trade in the auction market. In excess of 50% of all order flow is now delivered to the floor electronically.

On the trading floor, the NYSE trades in a continuous auction format. Here, the human interaction and expert judgment as to order execution differentiates the NYSE from fully electronic markets. There is one specific location on the trading floor where each listed stock trades. Exchange members interested in buying and selling a particular stock on behalf of investors gather around the appropriate post where a specialist broker, who is employed by an NYSE member firm (that is, he/she is not an employee of the New York Stock Exchange), acts as an auctioneer in an open outcry auction market environment to bring buyers and sellers together and to manage the actual auction. They do on occasion (approximately 10% of the time) facilitate the trades by committing their own capital and as a matter of course disseminate information to the crowd that helps to bring buyers and sellers together. The frenzied commotion of men and women in colored smocks has been captured in several movies, including Wall Street .