Stocks
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What is the stock market?
The stock market is actually many different marketplaces, actual and virtual, where shares of publicly
traded companies are bought and sold.
The three largest U.S. stock markets or stock exchanges are the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ and
the American Stock Exchange (AMEX). There are also many regional stock exchanges across the U.S., and
foreign stock exchanges around the world.
Each of the exchanges has different requirements for the types of companies it will list. The NYSE lists
many of the country's largest companies, AMEX tends to list small- to medium-sized businesses, and NASDAQ
has a heavy concentration of technology companies — some of which are smaller, emerging companies and some
of which are among the leaders in their fields.
Not all publicly traded companies are listed on a stock exchange. Unlisted stocks, i.e. those that don't
trade on one of the exchanges, are traded in what is called the over-the-counter (OTC) market, which simply
means they trade through dealer networks.