Authority and currency
About this authority
- Publisher
- New York Stock Exchange
- Standing
- Primary authority
- Version
- Current web page
- Relevant parts
- The original Buttonwood Agreement; May 17, 1792
- Currency
- current · checked Aug 7, 2026
The page supplies the narrow origin story needed here: twenty-four brokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement in 1792, setting trading rules and commissions. The course treats that agreement as an institutional coordination device, not as the beginning of securities trading or proof that the market was fair.