Stockbroker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stockbroker

A Bloomberg Terminal stockbroker with a multi-monitor workstation.
Occupation
Names	Stockbroker, Investment Advisor
Profession
Activity sectors	Finance

A stockbroker is a regulated professional individual, usually associated with a brokerage firm or broker-dealer, who buys and sells stocks and other securitiesfor both retail and institutional clients through a stock exchange or over the counter in return for a fee or commission. Stockbrokers are known by numerous professional designations, depending on the license they hold, the type of securities they sell, or the services they provide. In the United States, a stockbroker must pass both the Series 7 and either the Series 63 or the Series 66 exams in order to be properly licensed.

Contents

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• 1History
• 2Licensing and training requirements
  • 2.1Canada
  • 2.2Hong Kong
  • 2.3India
  • 2.4Singapore
  • 2.5United Kingdom
  • 2.6United States
• 3Related professions
• 4See also
• 5References

History[edit]

Courtyard of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange(Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser) by Emanuel de Witte, 1653. The process of buying and selling the VOC's shares (on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange) became the basis of the world's first official stock market.^[1][2][3]

The first stockbroking began in Rome, where the first recorded buying and selling of sharesoccurred in the 2nd century BCE. After Rome fell, stockbroking did not become a realistic career until after the Renaissance, when government bonds traded in Italian city-states such as Genoa or Venice. New stock exchanges opened their doors in the 16th and 17th centuries, including the London Stock Exchange, which was opened at a coffee shop in 1698.^[4] In the 1800s, in the United States, the New York Stock Exchange opened its doors under a buttonwood tree in New York City. 24 stockbrokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement, agreeing to trade five securities under that buttonwood tree. ^[5]