the.com/trading floor
a room where humans scream numbers at each other until the numbers agree to move.
means a physical space where traders and brokers buy and sell securities, commodities, or derivatives in person, often through shouted bids and hand signals.
from grew out of coffeehouses and curbside markets in 17th and 18th century europe, where merchants gathered to trade shares before exchanges had buildings; the nyse itself started under a buttonwood tree in 1792 before moving indoors.
hand signalstraders used silent gestures to bid across noisy pits
colored jacketsidentified which firm or role a trader belonged to
dying breedmost floors replaced by algorithms in milliseconds now
nyse surviveskept partly as television backdrop and ceremonial ritual
for instance
nyse floor — still open, now mostly for cameras and bell-ringing, since 1817
lme ring — london metal exchange still trades by open outcry today
cme pits — chicago futures pits mostly closed by 2015, electronic took over