The New York Stock Exchange is an iconic location in the USA which many people associate with angry business people shouting at screens. This is the central hub for the stock market and is the first palace people will think of if they want to delve into the world of investment.
However there are some facts about this place which you may not know, and they are pretty interesting. And we aren’t talking about the fact that they have nyse holidays or anything like that, these facts could change your opinion of this investment giant.
- The NYSE isn’t the oldest
The New York Stock Exchange was founded and began to run in 1792. Most people rightly think that this is the oldest stock exchange likely because of how popular it was at the time. However, the first stock exchange was actually in a completely different state of the USA: Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange was built in 1790 however it did not see the same success as it’s NYC counterpart simply because of location.
You can own a chunk of it
Believe it or not, the NYSE had actually been owned by its members for pretty much all of its long history up until 2006. In 2006 it became a publicity funded company instead. This caused many of the different stock exchanges to merge into one and form a consolidated exchange for all. It means that even though you may not own a stock in NYSE yourself, you can own a stock in the Intercontinental Exchange which is part of the bigger group.
It isn’t just stocks you can trade
Although you would assume that the stock exchange would deal with solely stocks, it doesn’t. The NYSE actually has access to many other types of investments such as bonds, exchange traded products and funds. This means that you could go to the stock exchange and never lay a finger on the stocks at all!
It costs to offer shares
If you want to advertise your business’ stocks on the stock exchange, it will cost you some money. You have an initial application fee of a staggering $25000 to contend with, and when you have been accepted onto the exchange you have to pay a charge of $50000. After this time, every time someone buys a stock from you, you have to pay out $0.004. It is an incredibly expensive business to run on the stocks but it can of course be incredibly lucrative.
5. It is one of the last human run stock exchanges
As we know, most things are online these days and because of this many investment and stock platforms are run by complicated code. There are no real people involved in most of these platforms unless there is an issue with the software. However of course the NYSE is still run and funded by actual people, and it is one of the last stock exchanges in the world to do so.
