The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), USA

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is a place where securities trading is still an emotion accompanied by waving arms, shouting and screaming. Being a stockbroker with a seat is a privilege here at the NYSE. It is the largest stock exchange for securities in the world, where about 3 thousand companies valued at nearly 15 trillion dollars are represented.

It began in 1792, when 24 brokers met in a café and signed an agreement stipulating that the commission charged to clients and the buying and selling of stocks and bonds should be done only to people close to them.

The original Stock Exchange building was on 11th Street in Lower Manhattan. To this day, the trading floor exists here with 21 rooms to better conduct trading. This building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978. In 1864, another institution called the "Open Board of Stockbrokers" was established in New York, which used a more modern and continuous system of trading. By this time, the electric telegraph had already been inaugurated, contributing to the ease of commercial transactions.

After the merger of the New York Stock Exchange with the Open Board in 1869, the Stock Exchange became the leading American money center on Wall Street for financial activities and the most important place in the United States for the conduct of wholesale financial services.

In 1903, the Exchange moved into its current $2 million neoclassical-style building at 18 Broad Street. The sculpture on the pediment, spectacularly named "The Integrity of the Watchman of Human Affairs," was designed by American sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward (1830-1910). As well as ups, there have been downs in the development of the New York Stock Exchange, the stock market crash of 1929 being the most devastating in US history. Followed by the collapse of the London Stock Exchange, this crash also marked the beginning of the 12-year Great Depression, which affected all the Western industrialised countries.

Also, not all Stock Exchange executives were honest with their clients, such as Richard Whitney, who in 1938 was convicted of taking his clients for a ride. The start of the Stock Exchange day begins with a bell. The original bell was a gavel made of special hardwood. After the Stock Exchange changed location in 1903, the bell is now used as many of the people who enjoy this privilege are businessmen whose companies trade on the exchange.

After 1995, celebrities are invited to ring the bell to start the day at the New York Stock Exchange. Among them are actress Liza Minnelli, New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and South African President Nelson Mandela.