While the NYSE and Nasdaq are the exchanges we are most familiar with, they aren't the only exchanges around. In fact, the AMEX (American Stock Exchange for short, not American Express the company here) and NYSE go all the way back to the 1800s, when people stood around certain locales like... light posts and mailboxes exchanging securities and then options. Until very recently, they've shared a history of intense rivalry, but I guess that history of rivalry is finally over with the NYSE buying up AMEX.
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