After the Belgian family Van Der Beurse created the first semi-formalized version of the stock market, the idea spread to the Netherlands which is where many believe the concept originated.
In the Dutch iteration, the market tried to make improvements over the Belgian system. This system appeared in the early 17th century. The Dutch version was larger but based in the same concept: a place for buyers and sellers to meet and trade "shares".
The first recorded transaction were with the Dutch East India Company. The company desired to raise money buy selling shares of stock. This was the beginning of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Dutch East was the first publicly traded stock.
For many years, Dutch East was the only company available to buy or sell. However, eventually others joined the exchange. In 1720 the market bubble burst and we experienced the first market crash. So...consequently, this was early versions of the "bears" profiting from a crash!
As a result of this crash, in 1792 the Buttonwood Agreement established the New York Stock Exchange!! The Buttonwood agreement had 24 signatories...24!! The heart of the agreement was that brokers could only deal with each other - "members" and the commissions were fixed at .25%.
My, how times have changed!!!!!!!!!!!!
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