The stock market began May 17, 1792 when 24 stock brokers and merchants signed what is known as the Buttonwood Agreement. Roughly 25 years later, in 1817, the New York Stock Exchange was opened and the real stock market as we know it began.

In 1868, there were 533 seats on the New York Stock Exchange. In contrast, there are currently 1,366 seats available. Unsurprisingly, in terms of market capitalization, the largest stock market in the United States is the New York Stock Exchange. Every day people invest more and more in companies and experts tell people who to invest in and who to stay away from.

Since the end of World War II, the average large stock has returned close to 10 percent a year, throughout the many ups and downs. People who invest in the stock market are largely people who can learn options trading and understand the ebb and flow of the stock market. However, stock brokers can usually give fairly decent stock market investment advice.

The stock market investing basics are to not invest in any company that is clearly headed for decline. You can always watch the news to get your daily stock report, and make your decisions from there. Generally, some people like the idea of low risk, high reward stocks. Those situations really only arise when a company is selling its shares at a very low price but somehow rebounds to make a huge profit for those investors.

At the end of the day, the best place for stock market investment advice is from the mouth of an intelligent stock broker or professional market analyst. Those who understand the numbers crunching and the way the business world works are the most well suited to offer beneficial advice and help people who are trying to make money off the stock market.