Members and Operate Business

• The NYSE has 1,000 members or organizations that manage the exchange. These members enforce both the rules and regulations of the exchange. Companies interested in trading on the NYSE must meet certain qualifications. They must currently be in operation and must have significant wealth in the form of assets and earning power. If the NYSE does not believe a business will last long or continue successfully, it may deny the company the ability to trade.
  
  

Marketplace

• At its heart, the NYSE is simply a marketplace. It does not create stock, and it does not trade stock itself. Instead, it provides a place where investors and companies can trade stock, and it enforces rules by which these trades are governed. When a successful stock trade is completed, the transaction is immediately recorded so all other investors throughout the world can see it, allowing them to gauge what stock is currently selling at.
  
  

Large and Small Orders

• Small stock bids made by smaller investors are often handled by computers in the NYSE, which automatically seek out the stock the investor wants to purchase and buy the stock at the best possible price available according to current offer. Larger orders for stock are often handled more personally, with one of the many brokers working on the NYSE representing the investor. It is the job of the broker to get the best price possible for the investor.
  
  

Trading Posts

• The NYSE is divided into many different trading posts. Each post manages about 85 different types of stock. The broker goes to the trading post where the stock the investor wants to buy is traded and studies how much the stock is currently worth. The broker makes a bid on the stock to try and get the investor the best price, and if another broker looking to sell that particular stock is willing to buy it, that broker may accept the bid. More than one bidder may raise the price of the stock being sold quickly.
  
  

Trading Bonds

• The NYSE has a computerized bond trading system that is similar to the stock system. It conducts two different bond auctions each trading day at the bond trading platform, one at 4 a.m. eastern standard time and one at 9:30 a.m. Bonds not sold at these major auctions move to continuous trading.
  
  The NYSE allows two main types of bond trading. The first is a limit order, where investors create an order to buy or sell a specific number of bonds at a specific price, or a better price if one becomes available. The second type of order is a reserve, which works like a limit order but keeps a reserve number of bonds specified that other investors cannot see in the system, allowing investors to be more secretive in their trading.