What Is an Exchange?
An exchange is a marketplace where buyers and sellers can trade goods, services, or financial instruments. Exchanges are typically organized as either physical locations or virtual platforms that facilitate the trading of assets between two parties. Physical exchanges have been around for centuries and were traditionally used to trade commodities such as grains, livestock, and precious metals. Today’s modern exchanges offer a wide variety of products including stocks, bonds, derivatives (futures contracts), currencies (foreign exchange) and other securities.
Exchanges provide an efficient way for investors to buy and sell securities in large volumes without having to negotiate directly with each other. They also help ensure fair pricing by providing transparency into market prices through their order books which list all bids/offers at different price levels from multiple participants in the market. Additionally, they act as intermediaries between buyers and sellers by ensuring that trades are settled quickly while protecting both sides from potential counterparty risk associated with direct transactions between individuals.