For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Demise of Exchange Trading Floors and the Growth of Ecns (Electronic Communications Networks‪)‬

I. INTRODUCTION The colorful "open outcry" trading in the "pits" of the Chicago futures exchanges and the bell--ringing opening of trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) have long dominated the public perception of how those markets operate. Those exchanges are now in the midst of radical changes that will soon be erasing those images. Exchange trading floors are fast fading into history as the trading of stocks and derivative instruments moves to electronic communications networks (ECNs) that simply match trades by computers through algorithms. (1) Competition from ECNs has already forced the NYSE and the Chicago futures exchanges to demutualize, consolidate, and reduce the role of their trading floors, while expanding their own electronic execution facilities. (2)