AMEX

The American Stock Exchange got its beginnings in the early 1800s. A group of businessmen, dissatisfied with the restrictions of the New York Stock Exchange, started meeting in the street to trade their own stocks. This unconventional way of meeting, tagged the group The Curbside traders. The group continued to meet on the streets of New York for another one hundred years. In 1921 they purchased a building, and called themselves The Curbside Exchange.

The popularity of the Curbside Exchange came with the fact they required no forms to be filled out, and would exchange as little as one share at a time. AMEX’s current success is attributed to Edward McCormick. McCormick took control and changed the name to The American Stock Exchange in the 1950s.