- Dec
- 26
- 2008
- 11:37 AM
'The Big Options Board'
- By: Ray Pellecchia
- File Under: Options
The Big Options Board (MarketBeat) Excerpt:
The floor of the New York Stock Exchange is undergoing a massive transformation that will not only add more people to the floor for the first time in years, but also give it far greater market share in an area that has been skyrocketing – options.
While trading volumes at the NYSE have never been higher, especially during the worst of the 2008 slump, floor personnel has been shrinking for the greater part of the last decade. About five years ago, there were about 3,000 traders and staff on the floor, compared with just 1,200 at the beginning of 2008.
But in the past month, 70 traders have joined the equities trading operation of the NYSE from the recently purchased American Stock Exchange, with more than 300 options traders scheduled to move into a redesigned art trading room on the floor of the NYSE on Feb. 9.
The NYSE and Amex will immediately move from the fourth- and fifth-largest options volume exchanges into the top three, and closer to the Chicago Board Options Exchange and International Securities Exchange than they have ever been.
Happy Friday, folks. On Wednesday I promised to post any links to the traditional singing of "Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie," and my colleague Daniel Labovitz e-mailed me about this NPR report, which includes audio of the song as well as an interview with Ted Weisberg, president of Seaport Securities. Enjoy!
PS -- I see that the official name of the song is as I have it above, not the more gramatically correct "Wait 'Til the Sun Shines, Nellie" that I had on Wednesday. Till intsead of 'til? Hey, give 'em a break, it was 1906.
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