By TheStreet Staff What Is a Stock Exchange? A stock exchange is a physical or electronic venue wherein the sale of securities like stocks is facilitated by brokers, dealers, and market makers. Stock exchanges are essentially marketplaces for the efficient trading of stocks between unrelated parties based on supply and demand. The two major American stock exchanges are the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) and the Nasdaq (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations). The Amsterdam Stock exchange is the world’s first and oldest. Established by the East India Company in 1602, th…