Ride the Highs and Lows With This Stock Market Quiz

When the NYSE began in the 1790s, it was based on the trading system popularized by the Spanish in the 1600s. They used the Spanish dollar (“peso”), which was divisible into eight reales, or “pieces of eight.” Originally, the smallest amount of tradable stock was $1/8 or 12.5 cents, later changed to $1/16 or 6.25 cents. Much later, the SEC ordered a change to decimals to make things easier for the public.

The city-state of Venice was wealthy and powerful in the early Middle Ages, thanks to its thriving merchant economy. But maintaining the empire came at a price. Instead of direct taxes, the Venice government decided to sell bonds known as “prestiti,” paying back a certain percentage each year. This allowed the government to raise money quickly while giving investors more confidence.

“Footsie” is the most common way of pronouncing the FTSE 100 Index, which is short for the Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100 Share Index. While it is named for a famous newspaper, the organization is owned by the London Stock Exchange Group and operates autonomously. FTSE began in 1984, and uses 100 companies on the London Stock Exchange as an indicator for the global market — the British equivalent of the Dow Jones.

Short selling is borrowing shares of a stock that you think will go down, selling them quickly, and buying them back at — hopefully — a lower price, therefore making a profit when you return them to the lender you borrowed from. It’s a long-established practice; the first person to do it was Isaac Le Maire, who manipulated the market to lower prices and short-sold the Dutch East India Company in 1609.

Beginning in the 1870s, a gong was used to begin and end trading periods. But when the New York Stock Exchange moved into a bigger building in 1903, it became necessary to upgrade to a larger bell that could resonate throughout the new space. The exchange settled on a brass bell operated electrically through a control panel. Today, the NYSE uses four different bells that ring synchronously.

In 1868, Thomas Edison invented a telegraph that used only one wire and printed continuously on a long spool of paper tape. By 1871, he finalized his “universal stock ticker,” named after the sound it made when printing. The tickers were used in offices for watching the markets in real time until electronic displays replaced them in the 1960s. However, ticker tape is still used for New York parades.

Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated on June 28, 1914. The diplomatic consequences led Europe closer to war over the next month, and the NYSE shut down on July 30, two days before Germany declared war on Russia. The exchange didn’t open again until more than four months later on December 12. Brokers kept trading off the exchange and stocks plummeted, but the war created industrial opportunities that lifted them in 1915.

Benjamin Graham’s family moved to New York City shortly after his birth, allowing the young investor to begin a Wall Street career early. He became known as the “father of value investing” by defining concepts that still apply to investing today, such as analyzing stocks without emotion and allowing long-term performance to define winning stock picks.

Outside of federal holidays, it’s rare for the stock market to shut down during the week. It often happens to honor the passing of a world leader; the exchange shut down in 1901 for the funeral of Queen Victoria, just as it did in 1968 for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and in 1994 for Richard Nixon. Earlier in 1969, the exchange closed for a more uplifting event: the Apollo 11 moon landing.

By 1900, most of the U.S. rail network was in place, and the country relied on it heavily, as automobiles were still a thing of the future. The rail sector even dominated industries such as banking, utilities, and iron, coal, and steel. Today, the stock market is much more diversified, with the health, technology, and retail industries taking up large spaces, and rail virtually insignificant.

Founded in 1602 to facilitate and protect trade between Asia and The Netherlands, the Dutch East India Company is one of the largest multinational corporations in human history. The company traded on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, which was created around the same time. Its share price was affected dramatically by the Dutch tulip craze, since the company’s ships were used to transport the bulbs.

The Netherlands experienced a period of economic prosperity in the 1600s, due largely to this timeless flower. Art and fashion collectibles became popular, including a type of “broken” tulip bulb that produced unique striped and speckled flowers. At the height of the craze, some Dutch traders paid up to 5,000 guilders — then the cost of a nice home — simply to invest in tulips.

Stock certificates are large, intricately printed papers that prove an investor’s ownership. Established in the early 17th century, the certificates never expire, and old ones are still valuable today. With the advent of digital trading, stock certificates have become largely obsolete.

When stocks are rising, it’s known as a “bull” market, which was the inspiration for “Charging Bull,” an 11-foot-tall statue created by sculptor Arturo Di Modica and installed in 1989. Di Modica was inspired to create an optimistic image in the wake of a stock market crash in 1987. In 2017, Kristen Visbal’s statue “Fearless Girl” was temporarily added facing the bull.

Most people are familiar with “Black Tuesday” on October 29, 1929, which set a record for the most shares traded in a single day, at over 16 million. However, panic selling actually started the week before on Thursday, October 24, when nearly 13 million shares were sold. Both days were part of a week that launched the Great Depression, which lasted well into the 1930s.

Enthusiasm for the developing internet bubbled throughout the 1990s, reaching a peak in early 2000. Between 1995 and 2000, the NASDAQ stock index increased over 500%. But thanks to concerns over tech companies running low on cash and an antitrust ruling against Microsoft, investors started to lose confidence. When the Dotcom Bubble burst in the spring of 2000, the NASDAQ lost nearly a trillion dollars.

The Buttonwood Agreement is the founding document of what became the New York Stock Exchange. It gets its name because the people who signed it used to meet under a buttonwood tree outside 68 Wall St. in New York City. In its short two sentences, 24 brokers agreed to trade only with each other without undercutting. Today, investors now have a network of trusted brokers, and the NYSE remains on Wall Street.

Analyst Henry Varnum Poor launched an investment service, Poor’s Publishing, in 1860. In 1941 it merged with the Standard Statistics company to create a new financial research firm, Standard and Poor’s corporation. Its index has tracked stocks since 1923, but adopted the 500 company format in 1957. Today, the S&P 500 is considered a top benchmark for American stock performance.

Warren Buffet is one of the wealthiest people in the world, with a net worth approaching $100 billion. Nicknamed the “Oracle of Omaha” after his hometown, Buffet kicked off his career buying shares of oil company Cities Services in 1942 at $38 each. He sold for a small gain when the price went to $40, lamenting when it later reached $200. Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway owns household brands such as GEICO and Duracell.