8 ms·

Trading Pit Hand Signals

90 points by ArikBe 5y ago

Razengan 5y ago
Reminds me of the Drow, how appropriate.
jan_Inkepa 5y ago
I had a laugh comparing the signs of the brokers GNI (japanese I believe?) https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liffe/#brokerage-gni https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liff... and Deutsche Bank (German) - https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liffe/#brokerage-deutsche-bank https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liff... . More innocent times...
- secondcoming 5y ago
  Ha, look at Babcock & Brown!
  - jan_Inkepa 5y ago
    Very good. This site really put me in a good mood. (This pagination is really awkward to navigate for that brokerage sign list though right?)
- js8 5y ago
  Or this one: https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-cbot/#brokerage-conti-continental-il https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-cbot...
- aasasd 5y ago
  Weirdly the Japanese association is taken by Diawa: https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liffe/#brokerage-diawa https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liff... But indeed the folks weren't too shy: https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liffe/#brokerage-ibj https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liff...
dnadler 5y ago
https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/functions-options#stupid https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/functions-options...
bmmayer1 5y ago
This is still the best (Hollywood quality) depiction of what the trading pit looked like in reality. Trading Places, 1983: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLySXTIBS3c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLySXTIBS3c
- sidpatil 5y ago
  "Sell 30 April at 142!"
- Someone1234 5y ago
  Although that scene raises questions though: How did the two of them even get onto the trading floor (e.g. What firm were they with? How were they capital backed?). How did they have enough margin to sell that many futures short? Why was the market seemingly only open 20 minutes? I guess the implication here is they e.g. sold 10,000 futures short, then re-purchased 10,000 futures to settle it and kept the difference. The problem is that even if you wind up with net 0 futures, you still need to hypothetically cover the short position during the trading day, or you could be violating the law (this is typically via margin, but who agreed to lend the two of them that money?). Maybe I'm forgetting the part of the movie where they had some rich backer or approached another firm to bankroll them/get them floor access. PS - The movie is still tons of fun, and I'd recommend it. These unclear details don't really undercut the core message, just odd as they went to pains to get a lot of things right.
  - dmurray 5y ago
    > you still need to hypothetically cover the short position during the trading day, or you could be violating the law Selling futures short isn't fundamentally different from opening a long position. It sounds like you're confusing it with some stock market regulation. Though yes, you do need some capital to back your position, and you normally need to be a member of the exchange.
  - fedreserved 5y ago
    They used the life savings of the butler and the lady of the night who took in Winthorp to fund their operation.
kolbe 5y ago
I was in the CBOT agricultural futures and options pits. Despite the fact that we had hand signals, yelling and then running over to a broker who had an order you wanted to trade was by far the most popular way for a trade to be executed. Hand signals were more often used for trade confirmations and for communicating with your clerks or trading partners.
csulmone 5y ago
Most people don't know that pit trading is still around! I work in SPX options trading and the CBOE in Chicago still has a huge in person trading pit.
- coldpie 5y ago
  How has that looked over the past year? :)
- fighterpilot 5y ago
  Why do they not close it and go full electronic? What's the point?
  - vernie 5y ago
    Where else are you going to get photos of that one dude to go with every day's "the market is up or down" article?
  - dbt00 5y ago
    Long story short, options have so many more ways of buying and selling due to complex spreads that it's still worth it to have in person trading.
chrisseaton 5y ago
https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/prices-quantities-cme/#quantity-two https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/prices-quantities... Bit rude!
- goodcanadian 5y ago
  Only in the UK. Luckily, CME is in North America.
anm89 5y ago
I'm pretty sure the sign for Deutsche Bank is making a Hitler mustache with your index finger. That's something. https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-cme/#brokerage-deutsche-bank https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-cme/...
- rfdonnelly 5y ago
  It even says "Origin Hitler's mustache."
  - anm89 5y ago
    I completely did not see that side bar. Good catch.
- 74d-fe6-2c6 5y ago
  https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-matif/#brokerage-deutsche-bank https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-mati... That's more like it.

90 points by ArikBe 5y ago

Reminds me of the Drow, how appropriate.

I had a laugh comparing the signs of the brokers GNI (japanese I believe?) https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liffe/#brokerage-gni https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liff... and Deutsche Bank (German) - https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liffe/#brokerage-deutsche-bank https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liff... . More innocent times...

secondcoming 5y ago
Ha, look at Babcock & Brown!
- jan_Inkepa 5y ago
  Very good. This site really put me in a good mood. (This pagination is really awkward to navigate for that brokerage sign list though right?)
js8 5y ago
Or this one: https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-cbot/#brokerage-conti-continental-il https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-cbot...
aasasd 5y ago
Weirdly the Japanese association is taken by Diawa: https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liffe/#brokerage-diawa https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liff... But indeed the folks weren't too shy: https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liffe/#brokerage-ibj https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-liff...

dnadler 5y ago

https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/functions-options#stupid https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/functions-options...

bmmayer1 5y ago

This is still the best (Hollywood quality) depiction of what the trading pit looked like in reality. Trading Places, 1983: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLySXTIBS3c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLySXTIBS3c

sidpatil 5y ago
"Sell 30 April at 142!"
Someone1234 5y ago
Although that scene raises questions though: How did the two of them even get onto the trading floor (e.g. What firm were they with? How were they capital backed?). How did they have enough margin to sell that many futures short? Why was the market seemingly only open 20 minutes? I guess the implication here is they e.g. sold 10,000 futures short, then re-purchased 10,000 futures to settle it and kept the difference. The problem is that even if you wind up with net 0 futures, you still need to hypothetically cover the short position during the trading day, or you could be violating the law (this is typically via margin, but who agreed to lend the two of them that money?). Maybe I'm forgetting the part of the movie where they had some rich backer or approached another firm to bankroll them/get them floor access. PS - The movie is still tons of fun, and I'd recommend it. These unclear details don't really undercut the core message, just odd as they went to pains to get a lot of things right.
- dmurray 5y ago
  > you still need to hypothetically cover the short position during the trading day, or you could be violating the law Selling futures short isn't fundamentally different from opening a long position. It sounds like you're confusing it with some stock market regulation. Though yes, you do need some capital to back your position, and you normally need to be a member of the exchange.
- fedreserved 5y ago
  They used the life savings of the butler and the lady of the night who took in Winthorp to fund their operation.

kolbe 5y ago

I was in the CBOT agricultural futures and options pits. Despite the fact that we had hand signals, yelling and then running over to a broker who had an order you wanted to trade was by far the most popular way for a trade to be executed. Hand signals were more often used for trade confirmations and for communicating with your clerks or trading partners.

csulmone 5y ago

Most people don't know that pit trading is still around! I work in SPX options trading and the CBOE in Chicago still has a huge in person trading pit.

coldpie 5y ago
How has that looked over the past year? :)
fighterpilot 5y ago
Why do they not close it and go full electronic? What's the point?
- vernie 5y ago
  Where else are you going to get photos of that one dude to go with every day's "the market is up or down" article?
- dbt00 5y ago
  Long story short, options have so many more ways of buying and selling due to complex spreads that it's still worth it to have in person trading.

chrisseaton 5y ago

https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/prices-quantities-cme/#quantity-two https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/prices-quantities... Bit rude!

goodcanadian 5y ago
Only in the UK. Luckily, CME is in North America.

anm89 5y ago

I'm pretty sure the sign for Deutsche Bank is making a Hitler mustache with your index finger. That's something. https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-cme/#brokerage-deutsche-bank https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-cme/...

rfdonnelly 5y ago
It even says "Origin Hitler's mustache."
- anm89 5y ago
  I completely did not see that side bar. Good catch.
74d-fe6-2c6 5y ago
https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-matif/#brokerage-deutsche-bank https://tradingpithistory.com/hand-signals/participants-mati... That's more like it.