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Stock markets are exchanges for the buying and selling of equities, or shares, in corporations. The two largest are the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system (NASDAQ). Each works very differently. The NYSE takes orders from brokers, who transmit them to their representatives on the trading floor. The floor broker takes the order to the trading post on the exchange floor and executes it. The price is recorded and reported (or "printed") on the ticker. Unlike the NYSE, NASDAQ has no physical trading floor. NASDAQ uses market makers, who compete with each other electronically to offer the bid/ask prices on stocks. If, for example, you want to place an order to buy 500 shares of stock in a given company, you call or electronically notify your broker/dealer, who then places your order. Your order is executed by a Market Maker at the best (lowest) ask price.