What Are the Major U.S. Stock Exchanges? NYSE, Nasdaq, and More

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The major U.S. stock exchanges are the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq. A stock exchange is an organized, regulated marketplace where buyers and sellers trade listed securities such as stocks, bonds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Beyond these two, the United States has a group of smaller exchanges. Many began as regional city exchanges and now operate under the NYSE or Nasdaq corporate families. Derivatives and commodities trade on separate, specialized exchanges.

How U.S. stock exchanges work

An exchange does two jobs. It lists securities, and it operates a trading venue where orders meet.

Listing is the gatekeeping job. A company that wants its shares quoted on an exchange must meet that exchange’s initial listing standards and then keep meeting its continued-listing rules. A listing gives the company visibility, credibility and access to capital from public investors.

Trading is the matching job. Brokers send buy and sell orders, and the exchange’s system pairs them. Shares listed on one exchange can also trade on other registered exchanges.

Exchanges register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as national securities exchanges under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. They also act as self-regulatory organizations, which means each one writes and enforces rules for its own members and listed companies, subject to SEC oversight.

The two major exchanges

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

The NYSE is the older of the two. Key dates in its history:

• 1792: official founding on May 17.
• 2006: merger with Archipelago and the Pacific Exchange, which produced NYSE Arca. NYSE Arca is the platform readers often see listed beside the two majors.
• 2007: merger with the European exchange operator Euronext in April, forming NYSE Euronext.
• 2008: acquisition of the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). AMEX had been a New York equities market known for ETFs and options.
• 2013: ICE became NYSE’s parent.

The trading floor on Wall Street is still a landmark, but since the Hybrid Market transition NYSE trading has been predominantly electronic, with 82% automatic execution after the change.

NYSE listing standards include share-distribution tests. For many initial listings, a company needs at least 400 round-lot holders and 1.1 million publicly held shares, along with financial and other requirements.

Nasdaq

The NASD launched Nasdaq in 1971 as a computerized market with no physical trading floor. It is one of the largest exchanges in the world by domestic market capitalization. Its listings include some of the largest U.S. companies, such as Apple, Alphabet (Google’s parent), Amazon and Microsoft.

Nasdaq is often called the cheaper place to list, but that holds only in some cases. Listing and annual fees depend on the market tier, the security type and the number of shares, so any comparison with NYSE is specific to the company.

Other U.S. exchanges

Several smaller venues are left over from the era of city exchanges or were built for specific products:

• Boston Stock Exchange (BSE): made up of the Boston Equities Exchange and the Boston Options Exchange (BOX). Nasdaq acquired BSE on August 29, 2008, but took no ownership interest in BOX.
• Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX): now operates as Nasdaq PHLX.
• International Securities Exchange (ISE): now Nasdaq ISE, which runs an options exchange. Its stock exchange was transferred to Direct Edge in 2008.
• National Stock Exchange (NSX): now NYSE National.
• Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX): its SEC-registered successor is NYSE Texas.
• Cboe Options Exchange: a Chicago-based options market.
• Miami Stock Exchange: an equities venue run by the Miami-based exchange group.
• Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT): both owned by CME Group. They trade futures and options on futures, not stocks.

Example: listing versus trading

Hypothetical example. Suppose a software company completes its IPO and lists on Nasdaq.

1. An investor buys 100 shares through a broker.
2. The broker routes the order to whichever registered venue it chooses. That could be Nasdaq or a different exchange.
3. The trade executes at that venue. The stock remains a Nasdaq-listed security regardless of where this particular trade took place.

If the company later moved its listing to NYSE, its shares would follow NYSE’s continued-listing rules from then on. Investors would still buy and sell through their brokers the same way.

What exchanges are often confused with

• Indexes. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are baskets of stocks, not marketplaces. Both include companies listed on NYSE and on Nasdaq. The Nasdaq Composite index and the Nasdaq exchange share a name but are different things.
• OTC markets. Over-the-counter securities trade through dealer networks rather than on a registered exchange. They are not subject to exchange listing standards.

Limitations

Exchange membership shows only that a company met the listing standards when it listed and has stayed in compliance since. Whether the business is a good investment is a question for valuation measures such as the P/E ratio and earnings per share.

Exchange names also change often through mergers and rebranding. A historical name like AMEX, CHX or NSX may now refer to a venue that operates under a different brand and parent.

FAQs

The Bottom Line

Investors and companies weighing a listing benefit from knowing that NYSE and Nasdaq dominate U.S. stock trading, while many smaller venues now sit under those two corporate families. A listing shows only that a company meets an exchange's standards, so judging an investment still calls for measures such as the P/E ratio and earnings per share. Listing fee comparisons between NYSE and Nasdaq depend on each company's details.