Trading Floor VS Cubicle

Hey guys, I've been wondering how this works for a while so I'll ask here. Also note: I'm not in finance so excuse my ignorance just interested in what it feels like to work on a busy trading floor since that looks pretty cool NGL.

As an outsider looking in, open desk/trading floors look really loud and chaotic when shown in the media and such, is this true to real life or is it a bit more dialed down? Do people generally prefer an open or cubicle arrangement?

Do investment bankers generally work on large trading floors or do they work in their own cubicles/offices like in law or accounting firms? Do certain groups work on the trading floor like the guys in capital markets? Do the upper guys of a bank also work in an open desk office or do they eventually get some privacy?

9 Comments
 
"GOOGAMAZMCSO"

As an outsider looking in, open desk/trading floors look really loud and chaotic when shown in the media and such, is this true to real life or is it a bit more dialed down? Do people generally prefer an open or cubicle arrangement?

Aren't institutional traders these days glorified programmers? Open outcry is dead.

Array
 

In equities, fixed income, and even most commodities, open outcry is dead. Cboe closed their floor a couple years ago. NYMEX (where Trading Places was shot) many years before that. (Ok, it was shot in WTC, and their final floor was at 300 Vesey where Knight, now Virtu is) I've been on the dais, people just use 11 wall for cheap office space.

The only difference between Asset Management and Investment Research is assets. I generally see somebody I know on TV on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. once or twice a week. This sounds cool, until I remind myself that I see somebody I know on ESPN five days a week.
 

I don't think OP was referring to open outcry, to me it read more like the S&T floor within an office. To answer that question, it's pretty much what you imagine and how it's portrayed in media, but definitely dialed down a bit. People who would work on the floor would be sales, trading, some risk people, a few compliance people, some specific support functions, in some cases treasury and/or structuring.

 

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