How does the floor of the new york stock exchange work?
Trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (the NYSE) is the image most people have thanks to television and the movies of how the market works. When the market is open, you see hundreds of people rushing about shouting and gesturing to one another, talking on phones, watching monitors, and entering data into terminals. It could not look any more chaotic. Yet, at the end of the day, the markets workout all the trades and get ready for the next day. Here is a step-by-step walk through the execution of a simple trade on the NYSE. You tell your broker to buy 100 shares of Acme Kumquats at market. Your broker’s order department sends the order to their floor clerk on the exchange. The floor clerk alerts one of the firm’s floor traders who finds another floor trader willing to sell 100 shares of Acme Kumquats. This is easier than is sounds, because the floor trader knows which floor traders make markets in particular stocks. The two agree on a price and complete the deal. The notif
