what exactly happens on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and how is it different from electronic trading?
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Mostly press photos these days. Real trading hasn’t been done there for ages.
The actual trading happens electronically in the NYSE data centers in NJ.
What you’re seeing in photos is called “open outcry” trading. Which is quite literally people shouting out what they’re buying and selling. There was a whole lot of noise, so there were collections of hand gestures to communicate. It’s interesting, but kind of stupid to try and do these days with computers around. There’s no way the humans can keep up!
When Bloomberg built fancy computers to do the trading electronically, it was almost instantly faster, easier, and more efficient.
The NYSE probably makes more money off using the trading floor as a catering hall for corporate events than it does off of trading activity.
I went to an event there around 5 years ago, and it was super cool, but also had the air of a museum.
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You’ve got the image of traders yelling and making deals on the trading floor, huh? Yeah, that image is a couple decades out of date. Nothing happens there anymore. It’s all done by computers these days.
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