How Equities Trading commissions dropped?
Trading commissions fell to negligible territory. Twenty years ago, it was common to pay $100 or more on a $1000 trade; online trading fees are less than $10 today. Yet, despite the considerable drop in prices, brokerages are making enormous profits, thanks to the increase in trading volume.
Peak volume in 1824 on the NYSE was 380,000 shares, though less than 10,000 was the norm in 1835. Unfair comparison, too far back? Fine. In 1992 average daily volume was 200 million shares. Today, it’s over 1.6 Billion. Peaks as high as 3 billion have been seen.
