What is a stock exchange? It is the marketplace where buyers and sellers meet to trade shares. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq are the two best-known in the US; Canada's is the Toronto Stock Exchange.
When you place an order through a broker, it goes to an exchange, where it is matched with someone on the other side of the trade. That matching is what sets the price you see quoted for a stock.
Exchanges also set the rules: listing standards, trading hours, and disclosure requirements. Those rules are part of what makes public markets open and orderly.
Not financial advice.
