04 — THE TRADING FLOOR ERA

As financial markets developed, trading became increasingly organized around physical exchanges.

For centuries, traders communicated face-to-face.

They used:

• Voice

• Hand signals

• Paper orders

• Messengers

• Telephone

• Trading floors

Imagine hundreds of people shouting:

BUY!

SELL!

BUY 100!

SELL 50!

This was the era of open-outcry trading.

Before electronic trading, exchanges were physical places where buyers and sellers met and negotiated prices.