Any stockbrokers /traders here?

[tali1]

A question - how the hell do traders do business on the stock floor amongst all the arm waving , shouting , chaos, pandemoniun - surely there must be loads of mistakes and utter confusion even more ironic considering the huge amounts of money being traded?
I just don't get it- no other industry operates in such a wild and crazy haphazard manner.
Please explain

[Swilly]

tali1 said:

A question - how the hell do traders do business on the stock floor amongst all the arm waving , shouting , chaos, pandemoniun - surely there must be loads of mistakes and utter confusion even more ironic considering the huge amounts of money being traded?
I just don't get it- no other industry operates in such a wild and crazy haphazard manner.
Please explain

Auctions do... and cattle markets... and bookies

[paolow]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_outcry

[Boozy]

I think most traders, certainly the ones where I work, do it via computer terminals now.

Edited by Boozy on Friday 13th February 19:35

[Owain]

Boozy said:

I think most traders, certainly the ones where I work, do it via computer terminals now.

Edited by Boozy on Friday 13th February 19:35

Yeah that's what I was about to say, most now use electronic trading systems. Apparently the London metal exchange still trade that way though - As the OP said it must be pretty crazy!

[Bing o]

tali1 said:

A question - how the hell do traders do business on the stock floor amongst all the arm waving , shouting , chaos, pandemoniun - surely there must be loads of mistakes and utter confusion even more ironic considering the huge amounts of money being traded?
I just don't get it- no other industry operates in such a wild and crazy haphazard manner.
Please explain

It's not anymore.

Settlement in Egypt is interesting - blokes on scooters meeting at the clearing house. Lots of stapling involved!!

[anonymous-user]

Owain said:

Boozy said:

I think most traders, certainly the ones where I work, do it via computer terminals now.

Edited by Boozy on Friday 13th February 19:35

Yeah that's what I was about to say, most now use electronic trading systems. Apparently the London metal exchange still trade that way though - As the OP said it must be pretty crazy!

The Metal Exchange are still open outcry and I think the Chicago Board of Trade in the US. Where I work it's all electronic. Bit of a shame really, before I started work in the city I had an image of 80s Wall Street, etc. The reality is a bit of a letdown

[Cpn Jack Spanner]

SiTheBad said:

Owain said:

Boozy said:

I think most traders, certainly the ones where I work, do it via computer terminals now.

Edited by Boozy on Friday 13th February 19:35

Yeah that's what I was about to say, most now use electronic trading systems. Apparently the London metal exchange still trade that way though - As the OP said it must be pretty crazy!

The Metal Exchange are still open outcry and I think the Chicago Board of Trade in the US. Where I work it's all electronic. Bit of a shame really, before I started work in the city I had an image of 80s Wall Street, etc. The reality is a bit of a letdown

Is that the "Trading Places Look" with the groups of guys in "team colours"

What's with the "Team Colours" ???

[MitchT]

Boozy said:

I think most traders, certainly the ones where I work, do it via computer terminals now.

Perhaps the OP could be re-phrased then... "How the hell did traders do business on the stock floor amongst all the arm waving, etc..." I've often wondered myself.

[foreright]

MitchT said:

Boozy said:

I think most traders, certainly the ones where I work, do it via computer terminals now.

Perhaps the OP could be re-phrased then... "How the hell did traders do business on the stock floor amongst all the arm waving, etc..." I've often wondered myself.

Hand signals I'd guess - team colours would be so you can instantly recognize people on your team

[dibblecorse]

Cpn Jack Spanner said:

What's with the "Team Colours" ???

Open outcry was fantastic to watch, used to work for NatWest just behind the London Stock Exchange and loved watching the traders at work. 95% replaced by screen based trading, inevitable, but a huge shame.

The Coloured and Patterned jackets were just that, Teams, each bank or firm had its own colors so they knew who they were trading with ....

[tali1]

Swilly said:

tali1 said:

A question - how the hell do traders do business on the stock floor amongst all the arm waving , shouting , chaos, pandemoniun - surely there must be loads of mistakes and utter confusion even more ironic considering the huge amounts of money being traded?
I just don't get it- no other industry operates in such a wild and crazy haphazard manner.
Please explain

Auctions do... and cattle markets... and bookies

I suppose they do BUT that is usually per one transaction whereas the trade floor is a jumble of hundreds of transactions criss crossing each other.
Can you imagine hundreds of cars all for sale at one time with hundreds of auctioneers and bidders on the same floor?

Edited by tali1 on Friday 13th February 23:07