NYSE Amex Composite Index

What is the NYSE Amex Composite Index?

The NYSE Amex Composite Index is a capitalization-weighted index of the stocks and American depositary receipts (ADRs) that trade on the NYSE American exchange. This incorporates listed companies, real estate investment trusts (REITs), master limited partnerships (MLPs), and closed-end investment vehicles. The symbol for the NYSE Amex Composite Index is XAX.

Figuring out the NYSE Amex Composite Index

Improvement and maintenance of the NYSE Amex Composite Index is taken care of by ICE Data Indices. The arrangement of the index incorporates every single common stock, ADRs, REITs, MLPs and closed-end investment vehicles that are listed on the NYSE American exchange. New companies are added in the wake of finishing their [initial public offering](/initial public offering).

The NYSE Amex exchange has a long history of trading in the United States and has gone through several ownership changes. Postings on the exchange incorporate global companies with small, mid, and large market capitalizations.

As of April 2021, the largest companies by capitalization included Imperial Oil (IMO), Cheniere Energy (LNG), B2Gold (BTG) and Seaboard (SEB). Market capitalization goes from $18 billion right down to $10 million. The smallest companies in the index tend to turn, as they become larger or fail.

Since the NYSE Amex Composite Index is made out of generally nano- , micro- , and small-cap stocks, the index is essentially utilized as an instrument for perceiving how small company stock prices are doing overall. During speculative times, investors tend to incline toward the less secure small-cap names, while at different times investors are more conservative and will lean toward larger-cap names that are more settled.

History of the NYSE Amex

The NYSE Amex exchange is situated in New York City. It was established in 1908 as the New York Curb Market Agency. It worked outside until 1921, when it moved inside to another building on Greenwich Street in lower Manhattan. In 1929, it changed its name to the New York Curb Exchange.

It was renamed as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) in 1953. Since the 1920s, it has been a leading U.S. securities exchange for international postings. The AMEX sent off options trading in 1975. In the mid 1980s, the trading floor got handheld PCs. This was progressive at that point.

In 2008, the American Stock Exchange was bought by NYSE Euronext, which itself was acquired by Intercontinental Exchange in 2013. In 2017, the exchange was renamed NYSE American and its [designated market makers](/designated-market-producer dmm) and floor brokers were supplanted with an electronic system.

The exchange is principally a market exchange for emerging growth companies. It offers an assortment of trading benefits including modern execution technology and advanced trading usefulness. It likewise flaunts a competitive transaction fee structure, with transaction costs going from zero pennies to $0.0005.

NYSE Amex Composite Index versus S&P 500 Index

The chart below shows a comparison of the price performance of the NYSE Amex Composite Index (price bars) and the S&P 500 Index between the 2009 low and June 2019.

Initially, the NYSE Amex Composite Index was more grounded rising with greater size than the S&P 500. By 2013 that began to change, showing that investors leaned toward larger-cap stocks and that possible larger-cap stocks were posting more grounded numbers than the smaller-cap stocks. This told adroit investors that the time had come to zero in on large-cap stocks.

Somewhere in the range of 2013 and 2019 the NYSE Amex Composite Index moved largely sideways, while the S&P 500 moved higher. Contrasting various indexes as such can give understanding into which segments of the market are showing improvement over others.

Features

• The NYSE Amex Composite Index is a market-cap weighted index of securities listed on the NYSE American exchange.
• The index is made principally out of small-cap companies and gives traders a proxy for how this segment of the stock market is doing.
• The American Stock Exchange follows its foundations to the mid 1900s. It was bought by the New York Stock Exchange in 2008.