Q.State any four features of a stock exchange.

A stock exchange has a distinct character — organised, membership-based, liquidity-giving and price-discovering — that sets it apart from an ordinary market.

Any four of the following features of a stock exchange may be explained:

1. An organised and regulated market — trading happens strictly under the rules, bye-laws and regulations of the exchange, and under the wider Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 and SEBI's oversight.
2. Deals only in already-issued securities — a stock exchange is the secondary market; it never sells a company's securities for the first time.
3. Membership/broker-based trading — an investor can trade only through a SEBI-registered stockbroker (trading member), even though the trading itself is electronic.
4. Provides liquidity and marketability — an investor can convert a security into cash, or cash into a security, almost instantly at a transparent price.
5. Price determined by demand and supply — no single party fixes a security's price; it is set continuously by the market.
6. A barometer of the economy — its indices are widely read as an indicator of investor confidence and the state of the economy.
7. A demutualised corporate structure — ownership and management are kept separate from members' trading rights, under SEBI's rules.

Listing 'functions' (like mobilising savings or price discovery) when the question specifically asks for 'features' — features describe what a stock exchange IS, functions describe what it DOES; keep the two lists separate in an answer.