Stock Ticker Invented: Real-Time Finance Revolution Begins
Edward Calahan, a telegraph operator at the American Telegraph Company, patented the stock ticker on November 15, 1867, creating the first device capable of printing stock prices over telegraph wires in real time. Before the ticker, brokers relied on runners who physically carried price information between exchanges, a system prone to delays and errors that created opportunities for manipulation. Calahan's machine printed stock abbreviations and prices on a continuous paper tape, giving every subscriber identical information simultaneously. Thomas Edison improved the design in 1871, and his version became the standard. The ticker tape revolutionized finance by democratizing access to market information. It also created ticker tape: the narrow paper strips that New Yorkers threw from office windows during parades, inventing a celebration tradition that lasted over a century.
November 15, 1867
159 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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