RE:RE:RE:VolumeThe other aspect of investing that changed the most from 45 years ago when I started is the the shares. It used to be you had a physical share certificate, piece of paper, issued by the company itself as proof of your ownership. There were a couple dozen large stock brokers, banks, and insurance companies that physically kept your shares in their vault or cage. That eventually became "book based" or a hybrid with both physical share certificates and account based holdings. I bought shares for my girls in the 80s in physical form and hung them on the wall in their bedroom hoping they'd dream of dividends and owning companies when they grow up. They still have a share certificate for Disney and Placer Dome (now Barrick, but still have the original cert) despite the companies doing everything they can to make it near impossible due to the cost of administration of a million shareholders. The dividends and withholding tax reporting for Disney make it infuriatingly difficult not to have your shares "escheated". It's a real word. Look it up. Disney puts the "cheat" in escheatment. Anyway. Everything is now electronic using a very few massive share custodians, the largest in Canada used to be, and maybe still are, State Street, RBC Dexia, and CIBC Mellon. They have probably 95% plus of all shares in Canada in their custody. All have arge USA and global operations to "custody" securities globally. Multiple Trillions worth. Each. So, electronicly they have the capacity to process billions of share trading volumes daily on as many exchanges as there are. It's a huge business most people don't even know exists. But the Disney shares on the wall have pictures of Mickey Mouse and gang, so we keep them. You can buy old share certificates that are cancelled or from defunct companies online or at flea markets, to decorate with if you want. That's enough for today.