Economics becomes a science · 1770s–1920s
1867
The stock ticker
Edward Calahan's telegraph machine prints prices on paper tape as trades happen.
The stock ticker, introduced in 1867, sent prices by telegraph and printed them on paper tape in brokers' offices. Company names were shortened to a few letters to save time: ticker symbols.
💡 Why it made sense then
Prices used to travel by runner. The telegraph let traders far from the exchange see prices within minutes.
Ideas it gave us
- 📈 Ticker symbol
A ticker symbol is the short code of letters used to identify a stock on an exchange, like AAPL for Apple or TSLA for Tesla.
- 🧾 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.