TICKER

high-speed teletype machine used for reporting information on stock market transactions. It prints the stock symbol, number of shares, and price of each transaction; these are transmitted to tickers at brokerage houses. Before the stock ticker was developed at the New York Stock Exchange in 1867, information had been carried by mail or messenger. Thomas A. Edison improved the machine, and in 1930 a faster ticker, printing 500 characters per minute, was developed. In 1964 a variable speed ticker printing up to 900 characters per minute and capable of handling 10,000,000 shares per day without a tape delay was put into operation. In 1965 the ticker was linked to a computer system, making it possible for a transaction to appear on the ticker tape within seconds after it is completed on the floor of the exchange.