Guest Contributor

Being able to enter and execute stock trades on a smartphone application is something we can easily take for granted these days, which is amazing simply because this was not even remotely possible a couple of decades ago. Technology has always been at the forefront of innovation in the financial markets; we can’t forget that the stock market we know today as the Nasdaq made its debut in 1971 as the first electronic trading platform open to ordinary investors. Prior to that, all transactions had to be cleared with a personal broker by means of a telephone call. And individual transaction fees were much higher. Prior to May 1, 1975 brokerage commissions were regulated by the government and actually kept artificially high. In those days, buying 100 shares of a blue-chip company could cost $100 or more in commissions.