Stock trader Peter Tuchman works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 9, 2020. Spencer Platt / Getty Images hide the caption
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Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Exchange trader Peter Tuchman works on the New York Stock Exchange on March 9, 2020.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
After Peter Tuchman left the New York Stock Exchange in March, he feared he would not return.
“Basically, I came very close to dying,” he says.
Known as “the most photographed man on Wall Street“Tuchman has amazing expressiveness that tells you instantly if stocks are rising or falling. He contracted COVID-19 early and has had health problems since then. Tuchman didn’t return to the trading venue full-time until November.
Since the exchange reopened last May after a temporary shutdown, the exchange has been operating with a skeleton crew on site.
That will change from Monday. When 100% of a company’s dealerships are fully vaccinated, they can send more of them back to the ground. You can have lunch in their cabins again. In some parts of the floor, masks are optional.
For Tuchman, this is another step towards normalcy. “We, as the ones who are still here, are meaningful and relevant and important,” he says.
The stock market is an outlier
The New York Stock Exchange stands out among its competitors. Nowadays most markets have no trading space. They are fully electronic. Last week, the CME Group announced that it would not reopen most of its Chicago trading pits that it closed during the pandemic.
When the New York Stock Exchange decided to send its traders home in 2020, there was speculation that it could mean permanent change.
The New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street is expected to fully open its trading venue. Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images Hide caption
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Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images
The New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street is expected to fully open its trading venue.
Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images
“Many of us thought we might take this opportunity to get rid of it once and for all,” says Joel Hasbrouck, Kenneth G. Langone professor of economics at New York University. “But they didn’t. They brought it back.”
He says there is still an argument in favor of a traditional trading room. This can make complicated transactions easier, and it is beneficial to have some face-to-face negotiation.
Stacey Cunningham, the president of the New York Stock Exchange, applauds her status as an outlier.
“It is absolutely correct that you can run a market without a retail space,” she says. “The difference is that if you connect people to technology in a well-integrated way, you’ll get a much better result.”
And that’s the pitch she and her colleagues make towards companies that are considering selling stocks to the public.
The lure of the legendary bell
Cunningham also likes to play on the institution’s long history. The familiar loud ringing of a large bell signals the opening and closing of day trading. The New York Stock Exchange website advises that the Ringing the bell – the thing, thing, thing played by television news – is more than just a colorful tradition that began in the 1870s. It is critical to the proper functioning of the market and ensures that no trades take place before the markets open or after they close.
The sound of the bell was even a trademark, described by an expert as follows:
“The sound of a brass bell, tuned to the pitch D but with a D-flat overtone, struck nine times at a brisk tempo, allowing the last note to ring until the sound naturally fell off.
The rhythmic pattern consists of eight sixteenth notes and one quarter note; The total time from striking the first note to the end of the last note’s decay is a little over 3 seconds. “
The bell is part of the pomp and ceremony that comes with an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. Corporate executives have always huddled on a small balcony overlooking the trading venue and rang the opening bell on the day their stocks first traded. These days there are no crowds and executives often appear via video link.
But companies are eager to resume the tradition, and Cunningham anticipates the exchange will soon see them back in the building.
Cunningham doesn’t expect everyone to return right away, and despite the change in rules, she believes the traders will gradually return to the building.
“One of the guiding principles we had during this process was to respond to local conditions and increase and relax the restrictions as those conditions change,” says Cunningham.
Last weekend, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York City’s positivity rate fell below 1.5% and nearly half of New York State’s adult population had been fully vaccinated.
