New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

The New York Stock Exchange is not only the oldest stock exchange in the United States, but also the world's largest, with a market cap of more than $28T as of this writing. The 2,000+ companies listed on this particular stock exchange (defined as a venue in which shares of public companies are often bought and sold) span a variety of industries, including financial services firms like J.P. Morgan, healthcare companies like Johnson & Johnson, consumer brands like Coca-Cola, and more.

The NYSE was officially founded in 1792 when 24 stockbrokers and merchants, who wanted a more formalized trading system for the fledgling United States, stood under a buttonwood tree on New York City's Wall Street and made the "Buttonwood Agreement" that formed the basis of the exchange. Since then, the NYSE has occupied a few different Wall Street locations—when it first started out, traders met both outside on the street and in coffee shops. But by 1903, the building where the New York Stock Exchange is still housed today had officially opened for business on the corner of Broad Street and Wall Street.

The New York Stock Exchange itself went public in 2006, transforming from a nonprofit organization into a for-profit corporation. Today, the NYSE's parent company, the Intercontinental Exchange, trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "ICE."