Out of the Pits: Traders and Technology from Chicago to London Review

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(More customer reviews)The pit trader postures and screams to establish dominance. He uses physical and psychological intimidation to scare off potential competitors. A certain amount of cooperation and even trust is necessary for him to be successful. It's surprising that Jane Goodall hasn't seen fit to study these young primates.
Caitlin Zaloom, a cultural anthropologist, lived among the savages at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and the London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE) for several years, long enough for them to become accustomed to her presence and even, to a point, trust her or at least ignore her. A woman in the trading pit is about as rare as a human living among the gorillas.
There are some pretty compelling reasons to study the trading pits. They are disappearing and soon most trading will be done electronically from all over the world. Traders won't be in the same room with each other and shouting will get you nowhere. How will this change trading? Obviously a loud voice will no longer give a trader an advantage, but will being an alpha male still be a plus?
Zaloom looks at the traditions of traders, the architecture of the trading space, the traders' clothing and habits, how traders get their jobs and how they're trained. She learned the techniques of traders and she became a trader. It's a short book (177 pages of text plus excellent and detailed notes, bibliography, index, and photos), but it covers a lot of territory. The style is often academic, with references to Michel Foucault, for instance, but on the other hand, these are pit traders we're talking about, so you'll have to pardon their French. Zaloom describes an especially colorful London trader, Freddy, who wears khakis with holes in them that show his underwear. He picks his nose, flashes the pit, and sings and barks loudly. It's hard to imagine how the markets will survive without him.

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