Introduction

Writing this paper has not been very high up on my ‘list of things I can’t wait to do.’ I had a lot of trouble picking a topic that interested me. Right now I am double majoring in finance and economics, and preparing to join the peace corp. At first my choice was going to be how Excel changed the field of accounting and finance. It has been a crucial part in part of the banking revolution. I stared blankly at the computer screen (a technique I like to call ‘brainstorming’) thinking about how I was going to write my paper on excel and its change on the banking world, wondering how I could stretch that paper to 1300 words. At the same time I was sitting on Google Finance watching my stocks plummet. I was witnessing all of my accumulated wealth disappear by the second. That’s when it hit me, how much the stock market has changed because of the internet. The internet has changed the landscape of the stock market, the speed at which transactions occur, the cost at which they occur, removed any more need for geographic proximity, and in my case, dramatically increased the speed at which an investor can watch their money disappear.