Glossary

Trading Floor

See Also:

Bid: Bid is an expression of willingness to buy a commodity at a given price. This is an offer to buy a specific quantity of a commodity at a stated price. Bid is opposite to Ask. Bid price is the price level at which a trader is ready to buy an offered commodity.

Offer: Offer is an indication of willingness to sell futures contract at a given price. Offer is opposite of bid, the price level of the offer may be referred to as the ask.

Open: Open is the period at the beginning of the trading session officially designated by the exchange during which all transactions are considered made "at the open."

Open Outcry: Open Outcry is a method of public auction for making bids and offers in the trading pits of futures exchanges. Open Outcry is common to most U.S. commodity exchanges, where trading occurs on a trading floor and traders may bid and offer simultaneously either for their own accounts or for the accounts of customers. Transactions may take place simultaneously at different places in the trading pit or ring. At most exchanges outside the U.S., open outcry has been replaced by electronic trading platforms.

Specialist System: Specialist System is a type of trading commonly used for the exchange trading of securities in which one individual or firm acts as a market-maker in a particular security, with the obligation to provide fair and orderly trading in that security by offsetting temporary imbalances in supply and demand by trading for the specialist's own account.

Trader: Trader is a merchant involved in cash commodities or a professional speculator who trades for his own account and who typically holds exchange trading privileges.

Trading Facility: Trading Facility is a person or group of persons that provides a physical or electronic facility or system in which multiple participants have the ability to execute or trade agreements, contracts, or transactions by accepting bids and offers made by other participants in the facility or system.

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