Modern finance · 1950s–1990s
1971
Nasdaq and electronic quotes
Nasdaq shows competing dealers' prices on screens instead of by phone.
Nasdaq began on 8 February 1971 as an electronic system showing the prices at which competing dealers would buy and sell each stock.
💡 Why it made sense then
Finding the best price used to mean phoning several dealers; a screen showed them all at once.
Ideas it gave us
- 🧾 Bid-ask spread
The bid is the highest price a buyer will pay right now, the ask is the lowest price a seller will accept, and the spread is the gap between them.
- 🧾 Real-time quote
A real-time quote is a stock's current price as trades happen, as opposed to a delayed quote that lags by 15 to 20 minutes.
Practise with $10,000 in play money
Free. No real money involved.