Even in finance terms, an archipelago can mean what it usually means: a group of islands...like the kind where billionaires might spend luxury vacations or take advantage of a friendly banking system to avoid taxes.
However, the name Archipelago (with the capital "a") has a specialized finance meaning as well. It is the name of a particular electronic communications network, or ECN...a kind of computerized stock information and trading network. Founded in the late 1990s, Archipelago helped pioneer the ECN space.
In the early 2000s, Archipelago had expanded to become an electronic exchange, allowing computerized trading of stocks listed on places like the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. It became popular with both retail day traders and financial institutions, who preferred its low-cost, high-speed features, compared to traditional exchanges, like the NYSE, which still relied heavily on guys in ugly jackets yelling at each other.
The NYSE eventually grew tired of the competition and merged with Archipelago in 2006, creating the NYSE Arca.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is the Dow Jones Industria...2710 Views
finance a la shmoop- what is the Dow Jones Industrial Average? well it's just
an index. it's a basket of 30 industrial stocks hence the catchy industrial word [list of the 30 stocks involved in the Dow]
in there and it was started in 1896 by Charles Dow and Edward Jones sort of the
Coke and Pepsi of stock averages in the day .worth noting is the fact that while
the Dow average is quoted often in the press it's not something that real Wall
Street traders really rely on that much as a market place holder anymore. why?
well because the Dow comprises only 30 stocks. it isn't really a broad market [Dow Jones in the trash]
representation, and you know the way the S&P 500 is the 500 is bigger than 30. Big
Brother has way more stocks and is thus way more liquid than the relatively
blippi set of 30 stocks that the Dow offers. over time the Dow has changed as
companies were bought and/or died and or just withered and became no longer
relevant. i.e. newspaper industry. which means that this thing has gone through
more faces than Kanye West .yeah. [Kanye West faces pictured]
Up Next
What is Electronic Communication Network (ECN)? In order to facilitate the exponential increase of trading volume in the markets, any financial ins...
What are NASDAQ and the NYSE? NYSE stands for New York Stock Exchange, and NASDAQ is more or less a component of this. The stock exchange is where...
What is an institutional investor? Hit play to find out