Trading pit paintings

A fair amount of trading pit paintings have been done over the years but virtually all I've seen were created by outside observers that treated the trading floor as simply another subject.  One exception can be found in the paintings of Collin C. Palmer who expressed his perspective as a CME and CBOT floor trader to create some of his paintings as shown below.  Click on each photo to enlarge for detail

BBC radio on origins of LIFFE

Thanks to Mark G. for passing along this 30 minute BBC radio episode which explored the origins of LIFFE.  Here's the synopsis from the link,

In this episode of In Living Memory, Chris Ledgard meets the men who set it up. He talks to traders who were there on day one, to journalists who covered the early weeks, and to one of the financial wizards employed to explain how it worked. And, he asks, is there any connection between this kind of speculation and some of the disastrous financial events of recent times?

It's not possible to embed the audio so click the link here.

*Book update - yeah more continued delays regarding the file conversion to .epub and .kf8 files and it now has to be farmed out to a specialized conversion house to get the formatting right. I've learned how that electronic books are really simple for plain vanilla designs/graphics but digitizing what's almost the equivalent of a coffee table book in the right format is an entirely different story.

LIFFE floor dismantling

photocredit: wikipedia

Big thanks to Andrew King of the UK for sending on a link to photos of the LIFFE floor at Cannon Bridge being taken apart in April 2000.  Because photographers are usually very uptight about unauthorized use, I won't paste any photos but you can see them at the following link:  click here for LIFFE dismantling photos

*so some people are wondering what's up on the book.....well I'm done with my part and it's just left dealing w/little things before pushing it out, first electronically and then hard copy format.   Besides being very comprehensive, visually it's a beautiful book whose designer has a day job at the world's premier advertising agency and put a lot of thought into the presentation.  I'm not trying to build anticipation or anything but just stating how things stand and figured it'd be done by now myself.  Hopefully not much longer!

Book update

Sorry to let the blog go dormant but I've been finishing up the book and just concluded a final pass on it.  Only thing that's keeping it from release is various logistical things and my hope is it'll be available electronically on Kindle within a few weeks and hard copies shortly after that.  I don't have anything to leak but here is atleast a chapter listing,

1 - History (general history of the trading pit, hand signals, how signals evolved, etc...)
2 - Trades, Traders and the Trading Floor (how a pit operates, role of different participants, etc...)
3 - Prices & Quantities
4 - Months
5 - Years
6 - Functions
7 - Participants
8 - Hand Signals in the Equity Markets (Curb exchange/AMEX signals and CBOE signals)

All of the writing was done by me so it's approached from a practitioners point of view including all the relevant details rather than a dry academic perspective heavy on filler.  Pretty much chapters 3 - 7 are taken from the website but obviously a lot easier to read through in book form and arranged to flow better w/some adjustments.  Also wish I could post my favorite trading pit photos I bought licenses for from Getty Images but can't show them except in the book due to the contract terms.

Anyways, just an update....

VSE trading floor

photo credit: johndenniston.ca

Generally I always keep this blog oriented to futures trading floors but this piece of market history that Graham D. found is worth posting because of it's uniqueness. 

I remember reading of the Vancouver Stock Exchange's notorious reputation and the following photo gallery is an interesting look into that trading floor of the mid 1970's.  Basically it was the equivalent as if the pink sheets/OTCBB would've had a trading floor. 

Here's the link to the gallery: click here

The gallery kicks off w/a proper description of the exchange:
"The Vancouver Stock Exchange doesn’t exist anymore but during the 1950’s until the 1990’s it was one of the most notorious stock exchanges in the world.
It had few rules and most of these were ignored, making millions for insiders while leaving everyone else with a tax loss. Its specialty was mining stocks, especially gold and copper. The stocks thrived on rumour and dived on news. In a 1989 exposé Forbes magazine called it the “scam capital of the world”."

Open Outcry.....the opera

 Have to say I've watched this three times and still can't figure it out.  It's an interactive opera based upon open outcry trading, only in the UK would they think of something like this.



Here's the Telegraph's take on it for further understanding:  Reality Opera about the stock market
And NPR Marketplace's take:  British opera finds harmony in financial world

Hat tip to Graham D. for passing this

London

In finishing up some details for the hand signal book (for reals, it's pretty much done) I wanted to take a look at some stuff in London and it was disappointing that Guildhall and City Business libraries have virtually nothing on the LIFFE floor.

One positive thing to come out of the excursion to Guildhall is that walking through the square I noticed that the LIFFE trader statue is now in the hall.  Initially I figured they removed it due to the backlash against the financial industry but walking by the original location it turns out they had to move it because of a huge construction project where it previously stood. 

photo of the statue as seen from Guildhall Sq today

Here's what the statue looks like from when I saw it years ago in it's original location across from Cannon Street Station.

Battling some serious jetlag and disappointed by the library documents, I had to smile upon hearing the radio station I stream from Austin play London Homesick Blues this morning