20 Fun Stock Market Facts

Stock market facts can help you learn about this fascinating financial system. The stock market is a large part of the financial picture in this country. This stock market information represents some of the history of the exchange and most dramatic moments on Wall Street.

1. Wall Street started as a 12 foot high wood stockade across lower Manhattan. The stockade was built in 1685 to protect the Dutch Settlers in what was called New Amsterdam at the time.
2. The New Amsterdam Stock Exchange started in 1602.
3. The first form of the stock market in New York started in 1792 with just 24 stock brokers meeting in the Tontine Coffee House on the corner of Wall and Water Streets.
4. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) didn't start until 1817 when the brokers created the New York Stock & Exchange Board. They rented out 40 Wall Street and chartered a constitution to govern trading practices. There were 24 brokers involved.
5. The New York Stock Exchange had its first day on which a million shares were exchanged on December 15^th, 1886.
6. Brokers joined the New York Stock Exchange by purchasing seats up until December 31, 2005, when the system switched to annual trading licenses. Before the switch, the highest amount paid for a seat was $4 million on December 1, 2005.
7. The first female member of the New York Stock Exchange was Muriel Sibert who joined in 1967.
8. Joseph L. Searles III was the first African American member to join the stock exchange. He joined in 1970.
9. After October 10^th, 1953, there has never been a day on the NYSE where less than a million shares have been traded.
10. The NYSE's largest volume day on record is February 27, 2007. Over 4 billion shares were traded on that day.
11. When there is a 30 percent drop in the market, the NYSE closes down trading for the rest of the day.
12. The Dow Jones Industrial average began in 1896 by the Dow Jones & Company to track the success of the market on any given day.
13. There are thirty different companies listed on the Dow Jones Industrial average and the included companies change from time to time.
14. The NASDAQ stock exchange began in 1971 with a focus on trading OTC stocks. The name is an acronym for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation.
15. Google is the highest price per share stock traded on the NASDAQ.
16. In 1998, the NASDAQ merged with the American Stock Exchange to create NASDAQ-AMEX. Despite the merger, both exchanges are still held separately.
17. In 1987, the Dow Jones dropped 22.6 percent. In September of 2008, the Dow Jones dropped by 7 percent.  
18. Three of the five largest losses by percentage in Stock Market history took place in 1929. The largest loss happened in 1987 and a day in 1899 rounds out the top five list.
19. The largest single day drop in the Dow Jones average history was on September 29, 2008 when the index fell 777.68 points.
20. October 13, 2008 was the largest single gain in the Dow Jones average. The index rose 936.42 points.