With a concentration of first-rate banks pioneering banking technologies, a large commercial market and Wall Street, which has come to represent the U.S. market, New York City is one of the world’s preeminent financial centers.

The Buttonwood Agreement of 1792 established a formal trading system in New York City (which would eventually become the New York Stock Exchange) and the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 generated large port revenues for the City. But, it was the invention of the stock ticker that solidified New York’s place as a financial capital.

In 1867, Samuel S. Laws, president of the Gold Exchange, invented a device known as the “gold indicator,” which displayed the price of gold by using double-faced panels to face both out the window of the Gold Exchange and to traders on the floor. That same year, Edward A. Callahan, invented the first stock telegraph printing instrument, which earned the name “stock ticker.” Thomas Edison perfected the machinery, enabling it to print the stock symbol on one line and the price on the other. Prices were wired from the floor of the Exchange to brokerage houses and regional exchanges across the country. The prices set in New York established stock prices throughout the nation.

As technology evolved, Wall Street and the many banking industries of New York prepared techniques to provide greater access to the markets and more convenient customer service. The telephone, Electronic Quotation Boards, the NASD automated quotation system, payment cards, and computer technologies have allowed Americans greater control over their personal finances.