NYSE Alternext U.S. is located in New York and it was previously known as the American Stock Exchange. The AMEX was started in 1842. The AMEX was owned by its members. The NYSE Euronext declared that they will acquire the AMEX for S260 million in stocks on January 17, 2008; they acquired the AMEX on October 1, 2008.

Prior to the completion of the stock holding, NYSE Euronext has declared that it will be merged with the Alternext European small-cap exchange and will be renamed as NYSE Alternext U.S.

History

The American Stock Exchange has its roots deep past colonial times when stock brokers worked out an outdoor market in New York meant to trade Government securities. In 1842 the AMEX started as an outdoor market, where the trade was carried out near lamp posts and mail boxes, but as the transactions increased, there aroused a need for the AMEX to move indoors to be able to trade regardless of weather conditions.

Since the traditional trading methods were by outcry trading the noise was very high that the stock hand signals came in to practice to denote and pass on the stock trend details past the loud noise in the building.

In 1921 the AMEX moved indoors into 86 Trinity Place, Manhattan, and the building at present is denoted as the national historic landmark.

Business
The core business of AMEX shifted from stocks to options and Exchange-traded funds as years passed on.

During the peak business days of AMEX, when they were attempting to establish Emerging Company Market Place because the listing standards of AMEX was diluted because penny stock promoters practiced their scams on a national level exchange.

In mid 1990s, the scandals were high lighted in major business journals. In 1998, the American Stock Exchange merged with the NASD to form the “The Nasdaq-Amex Market Group” NASD took control of the AMEX in 2004.

AMEX, NYSE, and NASDAQ were the major stock exchanges of America; however, the policies of the AMEX, was the most liberal when compared with the other major exchanges of America. This was because most of its companies were very small when compared with the other two exchange buildings.

The Amex also was involved in the ETFs, and hybrid/structured securities. The major of the U.S. listed ETFs were traded at the AMEX inclusive of the SPDR and most of the Powershares.