From their humble beginnings in 1790, with traders meeting under a tree on Wall Street in Philadelphia, comes the stock exchanges of today. It may have started in Philadelphia but by 1817 all of the market actions were in New York and the name became the New York Stock Exchange. Several years later competition set up across the street, or actually on the street, as the New York Curb Exchange started out by meeting on the street until they moved inside in 1921. They became the American Stock Exchange in 1953 and began conducting international exchanges. Shortly after that the NYSE Euronext (the parent company of the NYSE) acquired the ASE and they became the New York Stock Exchange Amex in 2008.
Naturally, there have been vast improvements in the stock market exchanges since that time. For example, international exchanges are common today, but originally it was a fairly limited area until it spread further and more and more foreign exchanges began to occur, opening up new possibilities for everyone involved in the market.
Along with all of the changes, additions and opportunities there also came new rules and regulations; one being that not all transactions must be completed at the actual stock exchanges, as some are done in business offices and even online. But, as one might expect, with these opportunities the Internal Revenue Service was one of the agencies coming up with some of those new rules and regulations. One such rule is the 1031 property exchange that basically allows property taxes to be deferred under certain conditions.
Most of the experts and traders agree that the section 1031 exchange can be very beneficial to investors, especially those who have some type of non-income producing property. A property may be exchanged for a different property that will not only produce a cash flow, but can also be used for income tax deductions, including depreciation, which you would not have had with your original property.
There is no doubt that one of the major areas of change is technology and more and more trading is being conducted electronically. The “original” stock exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange, are known as traditional markets, distinguishing them from the others that will allow a broker to trade from their office anywhere in the country. While some trades, such as the IRS 1031 exchange requires physical contact for notarizing the titles and deeds, many others are conducted online.