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NYSE is Shrinking

Sunday, September 23, 2007 | 01:18 PM

Interesting article about the effects of electronic trading on the NYSE.

"Behind the marble facade of its neoclassical fortress on Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange has been the hub of financial activity in Lower Manhattan for more than a century.

But the buzz emanating from its famous trading floor is dying down as computerized trading has rapidly reduced the need for face-to-face transactions. In the next several weeks, the exchange plans to shut two trading rooms that were added decades ago, when its status as the place to buy and sell stocks was unchallenged.

When the latest retreat is complete, the exchange floor will be half the size it was at its peak. The “crowd” — the brokers and clerks on the floor — has dwindled to about 1,700 from a high of more than 3,000. Before the exchange became a public company in 2005, its members controlled 1,366 seats, or licenses to trade. Now, about 800 brokers pay the annual $50,000 fee for a license."

courtesy of NYTimes

Source:
Next to Downsize on Wall Street? The Exchange Floor
PATRICK McGEEHAN
NYT, September 23, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/nyregion/23exchange.html