Exchange

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the American Stock Exchange are located on Wall Street, in New York City. Wall Street (named for a stockade built to protect the original settlers) is the busiest hub of securities trading in the United States. There are five other,

Traders buy and sell commodity futures on the floor of the Kansas City Board of Trade in 2001.
AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS

smaller, regional exchanges: the Pacific (in Los Angeles), Cincinnati, Chicago, Philadelphia (at the site of the first stock exchange in the United States), and Boston. These stock exchanges are private associations that sell memberships (seats) for a price, which can fluctuate based on the price of stocks and the volume of trading.

The SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, which was established pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933 (15 U.S.C.A. §§ 78a et seq., 78d), regulates the activities of securities exchanges (defined at 15 U.S.C.A. § 78c(a)(1)). Private associations such as the NYSE and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) initiate and execute a significant amount of self-regulation and disciplinary activities with the full support of the Securities and Exchange Commission.