Telegraphs

Telegraphs commercialize in the mid-1800s. Chicago and New York exchanges can share market news instantaneously. The electromagnetic telegraph debuts in 1835, and in 1844 Congress funds a 40-mile line from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. Ten years later, 23,000 miles of wire crisscross the country. Now exchange traders can share market information with unprecedented speed. By 1866, the first trans-Atlantic cable shortens communication time with foreign markets from three days to three hours.

Detail from The Progress of the Century by Currier & Ives. Lithograph, c. 1875

A predecessor to electronic trading platforms such as CME Globex, this stock ticker uses Morse code to receive market prices over telegraph lines. Though the stock ticker is considered slow by today’s electronic standards, the advancement allows exchange traders in Chicago and New York to share market information with unprecedented immediacy. Starting in the 1870s, the stock ticker remains the industry standard for nearly a century. Ultimately the advent of television and computers advances the speed of the marketplace