Many of the world’s most successful investors have made their fortunes in the United States but as a wise man once said: “A fool and his money are easily parted”. So before setting off on a transatlantic journey to the land of Buffett, Graham and Greenblatt it’s vital to get some initial bearings.
This article is part of Stockopedia’s complete Guide to Getting Started in US Shares. You can read our introduction to the series here and a look at the diversification benefits of investing in the US here. This week we take a look at how America’s main stock exchanges work.
Big beasts of US markets
Unlike in the UK where the London Stock Exchange handles the majority of equity listings, the US is home to several trading venues. The most famous are a pair of titans - the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq - the two biggest stock exchanges in the world.
But the US also has a number of regional exchanges and several 'Over the Counter' exchanges (OTC) where intrepid small-cap investors can regularly be found mining for hidden gold.
The aggregated data in the table below shows the current universe of US coverage we have at Stockopedia across the three main venues of trading. It's clear from the table that analyst coverage is not as deep amongst the OTC exchanges as on the NYSE and Nasdaq exchanges. The good news is that we rank a much higher percentage of stocks for their combined level of quality, value and momentum in our proprietary StockRanks on each exchange.
| Market | No. of Stocks | Analyst Estimates | StockRank |
| NYSE | 1962 | 89.8% | 98.4% |
| Nasdaq | 2451 | 76.0% | 96.5% |
| OTC | 4717 | 3.0% | 49.3% |
*Data accurate as of 30th July 2014
Investing in the New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is is easily the world’s largest stock market in terms of capitalisation - with a colossal value of $16,613,000,000,000. That's a lot of zeros. It is a bountiful hunting ground for investing in some of the world's biggest, prestigious and most profitable companies. Global names like Nike, Ford, Johnson & Johnson and Walt Disney are all here. So whether you've worn it, driven it, washed in it or watched the movie - the NYSE is where you can invest in it all.
Investors can take comfort from the fact that any company wanting to…
