A Wall Street institution commanding international recognition, the Amex is on the leading edge of exchanges worldwide in trading floor technology, service to its listed companies, and new product development. The Amex began as the New York Curb Market more than one hundred years ago. The name was inspired by hundreds of traders and brokers who practiced their trade literally on the streets of New York near Trinity Place, where the building stands today. The institution came indoors when its original charter was adopted in 1921. The membership of the Amex is a comprehensive cross-section of the nation's leading brokerage houses, including Merrill Lynch, Salomon Smith Barney, UBS Paine Webber, Prudential Securities, Bear Stearns, and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Discover , to name a few.
Seats entitle their owners to transact business on the trading floor.
Some members, including Specialists and floor brokers, are physically present on the Floor. As a trading facility, the Amex is an auction market with essentially the same structure and rules as the New York Stock Exchange . By centralizing order flow and requiring professionals to yield priority to public investors, auction market procedures ensure public buyers and sellers the best available price. Every Amex listed stock is assigned to a Specialist unit comprised of three or more individual Specialists. Stationed at a single post on the trading floor, the unit is responsible for overseeing all trading in its assigned stocks and options.