Every stock you buy in the Stock Market Game trades on one of two places: the NYSE or the NASDAQ. This session covers what an exchange actually is, how a company earns the right to list on one, and why companies sometimes switch.
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In the Stock Market Game, students buy and sell stocks and mutual funds listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ. Each exchange has its own standards a company must meet to be listed. Once listed, companies must maintain the exchange's listing requirements and abide by its rules. Stocks are represented on the exchanges by ticker symbols.
The NYSE uses an auction platform, buying and selling historically took place on a physical trading floor. The NYSE merged with Archipelago, an electronic market platform, to form NYSE Group, Inc. (announced 2005, completed in March 2006). The following year, NYSE Group merged with Euronext N.V. to form NYSE Euronext, bringing together major markets across Europe and the US (completed April 2007). In 2013, NYSE Euronext became a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), creating one of the largest networks of regulated exchanges and clearing houses in the world.
The NASDAQ is the largest electronic stock market in the US. When it began trading in 1971, it was the world's first electronic marketplace, transactions take place on a virtual platform, with investors at remote locations all over the world buying and selling shares. In 1992, when it joined with the London Stock Exchange, it became the first intercontinental linkage of securities markets. NASDAQ is itself a publicly traded company, trading as the Nasdaq OMX Group under the symbol NDAQ.
Tap a card to flip it and reveal the definition.
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
Resources that can serve as a starting point for research:
The stock exchanges work the same way. They give you a lot of choices. In the Stock Market Game you have two stores, NASDAQ and the NYSE, from which to choose stocks. Just like malls give you places to buy different kinds of shoes, stock exchanges give buyers and sellers the opportunity to trade the stocks of different types of companies.
All companies must satisfy certain requirements to be listed on a particular exchange. If a company meets an exchange's requirements, it can be listed, meaning its shares can be bought and sold there. If a company's stock later fails to meet those requirements, the exchange may delist it, and the stock is no longer traded there. The reason a company's stock trades on one exchange and not another has a lot to do with the company's size, its size and history can tell an investor something about the stock itself.
Complete the table below, then discuss: what do you think makes a company choose one exchange over another? Does the exchange a company is listed on impact its stock performance? Is where a company is listed important to you when researching a stock?
| NASDAQ | NYSE | |
|---|---|---|
| Company Name | The Nasdaq OMX Group, Inc. | Subsidiary of the Intercontinental Exchange Group, Inc. |
| Ticker | NDAQ | ICE |
| Homepage | nasdaq.com | nyse.com |
| Founded | 1971 | 1817 |
| Current Stock Price | $95.44 (NDAQ, Aug 7, 2026) | $150.30 (ICE, Aug 7, 2026) |
| Description | An all-electronic trading platform that has historically listed many technology-based companies, some of which did not qualify to list on the NYSE when they first went public. | Historically a hybrid auction/electronic market, traditionally home to some of the biggest public companies in the world. |
| Listing Standards (Pre-Tax Income) | Aggregate in the prior three fiscal years greater than $11 million, with at least $2.2 million in each of the two most recent years (Global Select Market earnings test) | Aggregate in the prior three fiscal years of at least $10 million, with at least $2 million in each of the two most recent years (standard earnings test) |
| Listing Fees | Initial entry fee of roughly $350,000 for the Global Select Market, including a $25,000 application fee | Initial listing fee of $325,000 plus a $25,000 application fee, roughly $350,000 total |
| Total Number of Companies | Approximately 3,450 (2026) | Approximately 2,200 (2026) |
| Three Listed Companies | 1. Apple Inc. (AAPL) 2. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) 3. Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) | 1. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) 2. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) 3. Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) |
Read the summaries below (each drawn from a real news article about a company moving between exchanges), then discuss the questions that follow.
Twitter's successful 2013 debut on the NYSE helped the exchange pull ahead of Nasdaq for tech listings that year, 19 to 14, after Nasdaq's high-profile mishandling of Facebook's 2012 IPO had already dented its reputation. The article traces Nasdaq's long dominance in tech listings back to the 1990s, and notes that both exchanges use different methods for counting what counts as a "tech" IPO, which produces different tallies for the same year.
Oracle announced it would move its listing from Nasdaq to the NYSE, at the time the largest-ever transfer between the two exchanges given Oracle's market value. The move followed a string of prestige battles between the exchanges over other big-name listings, and the article notes that exchanges compete hard for these listings because they bring both listing fees and ongoing trading revenue.
Marriott International announced it would move from the NYSE to Nasdaq, citing cost considerations and access to Nasdaq's investor-outreach tools. The article notes Nasdaq's Times Square billboard as a draw for consumer-facing companies like Marriott, and comes just months after Oracle's high-profile move in the opposite direction.
Read Fact Sheets 2 and 3 above if you haven't already.
Citing the Fact Sheets and additional research, write a letter to Marriott's Board of Directors to convince them to list on the NYSE again. Be sure to address the reasons Marriott gave in Fact Sheet 3 for leaving in the first place.
You can purchase stock in companies traded on both the NASDAQ and NYSE. Look up the names of the ten companies you are considering, or have already purchased, and note the exchange each is traded on.
| Company | Exchange |
|---|---|
List the stocks you have already purchased, organized by the exchange they are traded on. Find the date each was listed on that exchange. Research each exchange to find information on its latest IPO.
Imagine you are the head of a growing company preparing an IPO. Visit the homepages of the major US exchanges and find each one's "Corporate Products and Services" section, which describes what a company receives when it lists there. Which exchange would you list on? Why?
Prepare a table comparing the products and services of the exchanges you researched, including why you believe each product or service would be beneficial to your company.
| Product / Service | Exchange | Why It Would Help Your Company |
|---|---|---|