What Is the New York Stock Exchange?

Image source: Getty Images.

The New York Stock Exchange, also known as the NYSE or "Big Board," is the world's largest stock exchange in terms of the combined market capitalization of its listed securities. There are currently more than 2,400 equities that trade on the NYSE, which was founded 224 years ago in 1792.

The history of the NYSE: 1-minute version

The New York Stock Exchange is the oldest stock exchange in the United States. Its history can be traced back to 1792, when a group of 24 brokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement, though the earliest record of a space used exclusively for securities trading appeared in 1817, when the newly formed New York Stock and Exchange Board began renting out its own space.

Over the next 50 years or so, New York's stock market grew to be the dominant American market. In 2006, it became a publicly traded company after merging with rival Archipelago. Just over a year later, the NYSE Group merged with European stock market Euronext and became NYSE Euronext. Several years later, in 2013, the NYSE Euronext was acquired by Intercontinental Exchange group.

The New York Stock Exchange today

Today, the NYSE is a part of Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE) and is the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization. As of June 2016, the combined market capitalization of all NYSE-listed stocks is about $19.3 trillion.

Located at 11 Wall St. in Manhattan since 1865, the NYSE is open for trading Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET and is closed for certain market holidays. Unlike the Nasdaq, the NYSE has a physical trading floor that still operates.

The NYSE operates in a continuous auction format, which means that traders execute transactions on behalf of investors in an electronic hybrid market. Brokers and specialists buy and sell securities on behalf of their customers by pairing the highest bid price with the lowest selling price.

Largest NYSE stocks

As of Aug. 9, 2016, these are the 10 largest NYSE stocks by market capitalization:

This article is part of The Motley Fool's Knowledge Center, which was created based on the collected wisdom of a fantastic community of investors. We'd love to hear your questions, thoughts, and opinions on the Knowledge Center in general or this page in particular. Your input will help us help the world invest, better! Email us at knowledgecenter@fool.com. Thanks -- and Fool on!