Background

Accessibility and the stock market aren’t two words that where generally placed together before 1994. In the time leading up to the boom of the internet, the stock market was reserved for the financial elite of Wall Street, those who worked in the big stock brokers (in the Morgan Stanely’s or the Merril Lynch’s) who had up to the minute information about the stock market. Trades at this point where done either in person (through a broker on the floor of Wall Street) or on the phone (which went through a broker). This caused the cost of trading to be fairly high because someone had to be there to actually put your order through.

That being said, buying and selling stocks took a long time. Stock quotes also fell into this time frame as well. If you were lucky enough to have cable television at that point, you would be able to follow your stock prices on the television. Otherwise, following the stocks in The Wall Street Journal was the best option (this was also because it has stock quotes on companies outside of the Fortune 500). Choosing the Wall Street Journal as the main source of stock market news and prices meant there was a delay of one day between the time the price change happened, and when the reader got to see them (Didden, 2008).

This time delay, in addition to the time delay with the actual brokering of stock lead were major inefficiencies in the market. This was a fact that had an even greater effect for those who were not of the privileged elite of investors, or geographic relevance to Wall Street, or the other foreign stock markets (Didden, 2008).

This all began to change in 1994, when the first online ‘e-broker’ came to business (Fahri Unsal, 2001). It was the turning point around the stock market we know today hinged itself. It marked the beginning of the greatest change of speed and efficiency at which stocks were traded.