The NYSE Trading Floor is just a Production Set...?

[nickenumbers]

All,

 

I am about 80% confident that the NYSE Trading Floor that we all see at the open and close of the market, and that CNBC has set up in during the the trading day, IT IS JUST A SET, right?

 

I am not going conspiracy theory here.  No.  But, there is little to no Open Outcry Trading done, all of the trading is done thru the electronic trading systems. 

 

You guys are all smart and well connected.  Is all that I have said thus far, correct?

 

If it is, then we must ask, what is the NYSE building, floor with all the monitors and people walking around?  It is a TV production set, it is a museum, and it is a funny human psychology experiment. 

 

What purpose does it serve?  I think it gives the world a place to focus, even through very little wall street, and trading action is happening there. 

 

What did I get right, and what did I get wrong in that? 

 

PS- I CoBF are some of the smartest and best looking people. :-*

[oddballstocks]

Exchanges are fascinating. The open outcry stuff is just a remnant from the past.

 

The actual exchange is in a colo in New Jersey.  I believe what you see are market makers who are physically located on the floor.

 

As to what's in the building?  Think of all the admin staff to support an exchange.  The accounting, the legal, the sales.

 

I find exchanegs and exchange mechanics really interesting.  Think of the millions of orders streaming in each second that are matched and processed.

 

A cool factoid.  We have the T-3 because in the 1970s paperwork had grown so exponentially that there was a backlog in processing a trade.  It took up to three days to handle the volume of paperwork to settle.