If you ever get the chance to speak to a veteran floor trader, you really should.
That's because they're likely full of incredible stories about the good (or bad) ole days on the floor.
They'll probably tell you about the amazing sense of camaraderie on the floor and the epic pranks they used to pull on each other.
"Every joke was invented down there," a retired NYSE specialist said.
However, the humor has subsided in recent years.
"Fortunately, or unfortunately, you don't see those pranks anymore," another veteran floor trader told Business Insider.
The reason for the pranks in the past, the trader explained, is that they helped everyone on the floor "blow off steam."
"You can't be running at 100 percent all the time. You need to break the tension and that's why on the floor, every floor, they'd have some sort of prank or joke," the trader told Business Insider.
Now traders have to worry about lower trading volumes and what's going on in the eurozone.
Another reason they're fewer pranks is that the NYSE emerged as a publicly traded company, meaning there are more sensitive eyes these days. The CME Group, which owns the Chicago Board of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange, is also publicly traded.
"We always had respect for what we did as a living -- it was just joking around. Once we went public the world was watching," the trader said, adding, "Now it's strictly business once everyone went public. Everyone down here is holding the utmost respect."
Veteran traders both in New York and Chicago from the NYSE, CBOT, NYMEX and AMEX told us about some of the classic pranks and jokes they used to pull back in the day.
* If you have another trading floor prank, joke or story you would like to share, please send Julia an email at jlaroche@businessinsider.com.
If you tripped and fell at the NYSE, they'd make it look like a crime scene.
Location: NYSE
The prank: Back when the floor of the NYSE was super crowded if a guy would fall down, others floor brokers and specialists would draw a chalk outline around him.
A new broker at the American Stock Exchange would be given a fake stock to trade as part of their initiation.
Location: American Stock Exchange
The Prank: The entire AMEX floor would prank the newbie by giving them a fake stock to trade. The entire floor would be on it and prevent the new broker from getting their order executed until the stock ran up five points. Then the newbie's booth would make them sell it. The crowd would block the new broker from getting their order executed until the stock ran down five points.
"The broker would not know what's going on. Then, all of the sudden, a hand would reach in and grab his collar of his shirt and rip it off and the crowd would cheer and he would now be considered 'one of us,'" former AMEX broker "Groucho" said.
If someone got engaged everyone would taunt them.
Location: American Stock Exchange
The Prank:"When someone got married, we took them outside and handcuffed them to a fire hydrant and then tossed anything and everything we could find -- ketchup, mustard, powder, flour. And actually we cuffed the bride-to-be alongside her future and did it to her also," former AMEX broker "Groucho" said.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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