Which New York exchange was the center of the Wall Street Crash of 1929?

The New York Stock Exchange was the New York exchange at the center of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The NYSE, located on Wall Street in Manhattan, was the principal venue where share prices collapsed during the crisis.

The crash unfolded in several stages during October 1929. October 24 became known as Black Thursday after heavy selling and a record trading volume unsettled investors. Temporary support from leading bankers calmed the market briefly, but selling returned with greater force. On October 29, Black Tuesday, about 16.4 million shares changed hands as prices plunged.

The NYSE was not the sole cause of the disaster. Speculative buying, purchases made on margin, fragile investment trusts, uneven economic growth, and weakening industrial conditions had made the market vulnerable. Falling share prices then damaged confidence and contributed to bank failures, reduced spending, and the wider Great Depression.

NASDAQ is a common wrong answer because it is a major modern U.S. exchange, but it did not exist in 1929; it was founded in 1971. The Chicago Board of Trade primarily handled commodities and futures, while the London Stock Exchange was outside New York and outside the U.S. market at issue.