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One of the largest options exchanges in the United States. Located at 86 Trinity Place in lower Manhattan, AMEX was known as the Curb Exchange until 1921. The exchange pioneered index options and trades options on 25 broad-based and sector indices. It is a leader in the development of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), and it calculates and publishes a wide variety of indices to support index-based products such as ETFs, index options, and structured products. The Amex is home to more than 700 companies and trades 20 corporate bonds. The Amex was one of the pioneers in index options and today trades put-and-call options on broad market, industry sector, and international indexes. Index options make it possible for investors to "trade" an entire market to seek either profit or protection from price movements in a stock market as a whole or in broad segments of a particular market. The exchange trades more than 160 ETFs; 17 Holding Company Depositary Receipts (HOLDRs); and more than 350 structured products such as notes linked to currencies, equities, and indexes. The two main indices tracking Amex stocks are the Amex Composite Index and the Amex Major Market Index. Amex derivatives include Diamonds, which tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts (SPDRs), which track the S&P 500 index and are called Spiders. In 2004, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) transferred control of the Amex back to its membership and elected a new board. The board is composed of 15 members, nine independent and six industry governors. The Amex's equity market is a centralized, specialist-based auction market, and the exchange is currently making upgrades to its trading technology, which includes the Amex New Trading Environment (ANTE) for options. The exchange expects to have the upgrades fully implemented by the first quarter of 2006, in order to meet Regulation NMS compliance requirements. As a result, the Amex's trading environment will be largely automated and expects to have the speed of an electronic communication network, but will still retain its human-based system of trading for those investors who desire it. Trading hours: 9:30 A.M.-4 P.M., Monday through Friday. www.amex.com. See also SPDRs;.