Market Capitalization Rule

Like any club, the New York Stock Exchange has rules. It doesn't want just any riff-raff off the street coming in and trying to trade its stock. Instead, it sets some minimums to make sure that all the companies trading their shares on the exchange meet some baseline standards.

Among its listing rules, the NYSE requires a minimum market capitalization...a.k.a. the Market Capitalization Rule.

Market capitalization (or market cap, as it's often called) represents the total value of a company's equity. Take all the shares it has outstanding. Then multiply that by its current stock price. That figure gives you the market cap. So a company with 50 million shares outstanding and a stock price of $5 a share would have a market cap of $250 million.

The NYSE's market capitalization rule calls for firms to keep at least $25 million in market cap. If the figure falls below this minimum, the company could face delisting.