Which U.S. stock exchange traces its history to the Buttonwood Agreement of 1792?

The New York Stock Exchange traces its history to the Buttonwood Agreement signed in New York in 1792.

The agreement was signed by 24 brokers and merchants under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street, according to the traditional account. It established rules for trading securities among the participants and is widely regarded as the foundation of the organization that became the NYSE.

The exchange developed through several names and locations before becoming known as the New York Stock Exchange. It became a major marketplace for listed company shares and later adopted extensive electronic trading alongside its famous physical trading floor.

The NYSE is not the same as Nasdaq. Nasdaq began operations in 1971 as an electronic quotation system and has no traditional physical trading floor like the NYSE’s historic exchange model. The Buttonwood Agreement also did not create modern stock markets in their complete present-day form; it marked an early formalization of organized securities trading in New York.