New York Stock Exchange Trading in Perspective

TLDR: In this paper, the authors explore the nature of these cycles and draw implications about future trading from them, and show that these surges have recurred frequently enough to create a cycle in the NYSE turnover rate (the number of shares traded annually as a per cent of the shares listed).

Abstract: THE SHARP INCREASE in stock market trading during 1967 and 1968 astonished Wall Street observers and forced unprecedented closings of the New York Stock Exchange to enable brokers to catch up with the attendant paperwork. Yet, the last half century has provided numerous instances of sharp increases in trading similar to that of 1967 and 1968. In fact, these surges have recurred frequently enough to create a cycle in the NYSE turnover rate (the number of shares traded annually as a per cent of the shares listed). This paper explores the nature of these cycles and draws implications about future trading from them.