The document discusses stock exchanges and their functions. It defines a stock exchange as an organization established to assist, regulate, and control trading of securities. It describes how stock exchanges host markets where stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments are traded between buyers and sellers during business hours. Exchanges impose rules on member firms and brokers. The key functions of stock exchanges include providing liquidity and marketability for existing securities, determining prices through the forces of supply and demand, ensuring the safety of transactions through compliance with exchange rules and regulations, contributing to economic growth by providing investment opportunities, and spreading information about listed companies.