Two hundred and thirteen years ago, a group of brokers and merchants signed an agreement under a buttonwood tree in lower Manhattan. They thereby created a securities-trading system that was the forerunner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Until recently, the NYSE was a bastion of tradition, sticking to member-ownership and floor-based, face-to-face trading. Now it recognises that technology and speed rule the day. On December 6th the exchange's seatholders—who are also its owners—are due to take a vote that will thrust it into the modern trading era, by merging it with Archipelago, a quoted electronic exchange, and turning it into a listed company.
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