Capital Flow Watch

The application of computers to trading systems on securities exchanges.

Historically, stock markets were physical locations where buyers and sellers met and negotiated. With the improvement in communications technology in the late 20th century, the need for a physical location became less important, as traders could transact from remote locations.
One of the earliest examples of widespread electronic trading was on Globex, the CME Group’s electronic trading platform that allows access to a variety of financial, foreign exchange and commodity markets. The Chicago Board Of Trade produced a rival system that was based on Oak Trading Systems’ Oak platform which facilitated ‘E Open Outcry,’ an electronic trading platform that allowed for electronic trading to take place alongside the trading that took place in the CBOT pits. Oak Trading Systems continues to offer access to global markets via various software applications, including demo packages, and products are available through reputable brokerage firms such as EHedger LLC.
Electronic trading makes transactions easier to complete, monitor, clear, and settle. NASDAQ, set up in 1971, was the world’s first electronic stock market, though it originally operated as an electronic bulletin board, rather than offering straight through processing (STP). By early 2007, organizations like the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were creating electronic trading platforms to support the emerging interest in trading within the foreign exchange market.

(Wikipedia Jan 2010)