Research desk.
Long reads on how markets have matched buyers and sellers, checked against the record and written in plain language. New pieces every few weeks.
Which part of the machine do you want to read about?
All articles
5 articles shown
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A brief history of stock exchanges in Canada
Montréal, Toronto and the regional exchanges of the West: how local brokers' associations grew, specialized and combined into a national structure under TMX Group.
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From paper certificates to digital records: how share ownership went electronic
A share used to be engraved paper. We follow it into a central depository and a line in a ledger, and explain why settlement keeps getting shorter.
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Why circuit breakers exist: a short history of trading halts
From exchanges closing their doors in 1914 to the rules written after 1987 and 2010: how stopping became a designed part of the market.
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When trading floors went quiet: the shift to electronic trading
Between the late 1970s and the 2000s the shouting stopped. How order books moved from crowded rooms into software, and what the floor did that screens had to relearn.
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How the stock ticker changed the speed of markets
Before 1867 a price left the floor at the speed of a messenger. The ticker cut that delay to minutes and changed who could follow the market.
What will you find inside every article?
Built the same way, every time.
- Key takeaways
- Four lines at the top that summarize the piece, so you know what you will learn before you start.
- Contents and reading progress
- A numbered contents list that follows you down the page, and a depth-chart bar that shows how far you are.
- One concept figure
- A step sequence or a set of definitions that turns the mechanism into something you can scan.
- A clear limit
- Each article ends with a note that it is educational and not advice, followed by related reading.