I meant to write a brief introduction about stock exchanges to lead into a stock write-up, but it ended up becoming its own full project.
Topics covered include:

• Introduction

• What is an Exchange & Instruments

• History

• Major Players

• Exchange Options

• Business Models

• Conclusions

You can find the full breakdown on Substack here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/andreevdan/p/background-the-business-of-exchanges?r=4klyy7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

A full PDF is also available at the end if you prefer everything in one file.