Real-Time Quote

The term is a bit of a relic from the Olde Worlde, when the internet wasn't really a Thing. Stock and bond quotes were considered "content," and only professionals cared to have real time quotes, i.e. prices sent directly from the floor of whatever exchange in which those securities were being traded. So the pros would be charged a meaningful fee, like $100 a day or something like that, for the privilege of getting those quotes right away, stat. The retail buyer was less interested...and likely couldn't afford "real time," so they received quotes that were about 20 minutes delayed.

Things changed dramatically with robotic or programmatic trading. Trades timed to the nanosecond changed the way spreads worked, and all kinds of extremely short duration arbitrage opportunities existed when massive volume could be traded quickly to take advantage of a hundredth of a cent difference in prices on different exchanges. And brokers loved it: More volume = more commish.

See: Fast Market Rule.