Stock Trading Floor Hand Signals

At one time all stock market trading took place using something called open outcry which had traders communicating their trading information by crying out or using hand signals.

Stock trading floor hand signals. Amercian stock exchange hand signals. The signals let traders and other floor employees know how much is being bid and asked how many contracts are at stake what the expiration months. This is the sign language used by professional traders on trading floors throughout the world. What s the name for the method of communications used by stock traders frantically running around a trading floor and using hand signals.

In an open outcry auction bids and offers must be made out in the open market. Floor trading is the meeting of traders or stockbrokers at a specific venue referred to as a trading floor or pit to buy and sell financial instruments using open outcry method to communicate with each other. What s the largest stock exchange in the world in terms of market capitalization basically the total value of all listed companies. The floor where trading activities are conducted.

It involves shouting and the use of hand signals to transfer information primarily about buy and sell orders. The verbal and hand signal communication used by traders at stock option and futures exchanges are now. Stock market to permit the. Hand signaling also known as arb or arbing short for arbitrage is a system of hand signals used on financial trading floors to communicate buy and sell information in an open outcry trading environment.

The part of the trading floor where this takes place is called a pit. Trading floors are found in the buildings of various exchanges such as the new york stock exchange and the chicago board of trade. Hand signals the sign language of futures trading represent a unique system of communication that effectively conveys the basic information needed to conduct business on the trading floor. Nick radge shows you how to do the trading floor hand signals.

Open outcry is a method of communication between professionals on a stock exchange or futures exchange typically on a trading floor. Four futures hand signal. Open outcry was a popular method for communicating trade orders in trading pits before 2010. The amex is the only u s.

The system is used at financial exchanges such as the chicago mercantile exchange cme and the american stock exchange amex.