NYSE Euronext has committed to an 18-month, $5 million face-lift for the 100-year-old trading floor.The redesign, already under way along the west wall of the Big Board's main trading room, is part of a broader strategic shift at the exchange. The exchange wants to lure more electronic traders directly to the floor, creating a hybrid world where they can take in the person-to-person "buzz" of live traders while still executing trades by computer.
The changes could bring about another big cultural change: Some traders will be able to sit at trading stations that are similar to the kind of desks used throughout Wall Street, instead of standing or perching on stools, as is Big Board custom.
The design also is supposed to help fill big voids on the trading floor. Five years ago, 2,400 people worked on the floor, served by 20 trading "posts" in three different rooms. Today, just 1,200 people work out of two rooms, a void readily apparent when television anchors provide market updates.
The floor of the New York Stock Exchange accounts for only about 17% of daily NYSE stock-trading activity, which equals less than 5% of total U.S. stock-exchange volume.
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