Who are the people on the trading floor of the NYSE? What are they doing?

First L: Who are the people on the trading floor of the NYSE? What are they doing?
When the news does any story about the stock market, they almost always cut to a stock video clip of people on the NYSE trading floor gathered around those kiosks.

These people are looking around a lot of flashing hand signals and making frantic phone calls. Who are these people and what are they doing? What is their job title? What role to they play for their income?

In addition, what are each of those circle shaped kiosks? Is there one for each sector, or are they some kind of grouping? What do those things do?

Answers and Views:

Answer by jeff410
They’re floor traders

Answer by Chuck P
They are called specialist, and some are traders and others newscasters. The specialist are like market makers for individual stocks, they pair up the buy and sell orders and set the price accordingly. The NYSE is the only market that does that, the NASDAQ is all computerized and quite, you don’t have people yelling and running around like crazy people. The rumor is the NYSE will be changing to the NASDAQ method in the near future.

Answer by The Shepherd
The tading floor is to provide a two-sided market for public trading. A buy and a sell side, so the public can execute either when they wish to.

Trading floors are broken into areas by the products they trade. The NYSE has specialist booths that trade certain stocks.

When you see a trading floor on TV often it is an options floors or other derivative floor because the stock floor is kinda boring.

The specialist firm is responsible for making the two sided market on stocks. The other people around are floor brokers, clerks, NYSE clerks etc…

An options floor is a pit of people who are market makers. There may be a few floors brokers (bringing your orders in).

One interesting thing is that the ugly coats signify which firm you work for. So you can find people in a sea of people. Generally speaking hand palm out is selling and hand palm in is buying.

Answer by man_marathon
brokers, they buy and sell for wealthy people and protect their money,they don’t care if the small guy looses money in a panic free fall market