What is a Composite Tape?
Composite tapes are the ticker tapes that are used to print transaction activity on different types of financial exchanges. The composite tape captures real time information and continually prints out current activity on a variety of different markets. The use of ticker tape once served as the most immediate way for regional exchanges to obtain information regarding transactions taking place on national exchanges. Even today, many investors and different exchanges continue to actively use composite tape as the primary means of getting information of securities performance. The use of composite tape dates back to the early years of stock exchanges and the harnessing of the new power of electricity. During the early 20th century, it was not unusual for large corporations that maintained large portfolios to have a machine on premises to receive composite tape readouts. At the same time, the ticker tape machines made it possible for exchanges all over the world to receive updates of activi
