# Do floor traders look worried because the stock market is having a bad day ? Or is it just for illustration? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 17, 2022, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-floor-traders-look-worried-because-the-stock-market-is-having-a-bad-day-or-is-it-just-for-illustration/966386 "2022-06-17T17:31:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-floor-traders-look-worried-because-the-stock-market-is-having-a-bad-day-or-is-it-just-for-illustration/966386/1 "2022-06-17T17:31:20Z")
When the DJIA or S&P 500 is down 1% or 3% for the day, the media will make an article out of it. There will usually be a picture of traders, presumably on the floor at the NYSE, watching screens and looking worried and tired. ([Example](https://www.lapresse.ca/affaires/marches/2022-06-17/mauvais-indicateurs-americains/wall-street-privee-de-rebond.php)) But wouldn’t they look worried and tired even on a good day ? They’re at work in a high-stress job, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-floor-traders-look-worried-because-the-stock-market-is-having-a-bad-day-or-is-it-just-for-illustration/966386/2 "2022-06-17T17:39:04Z")
They are probably more concerned about the progressive obsolescence of their jobs: > **[What Is a Floor Trader? Definition, Role in Markets, Requirements](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/floortrader.asp)** > > A floor trader is an exchange member who executes transactions from the floor of the exchange, exclusively for their own account. > # The Future of Floor Trading > > _Floor trading has become increasingly rare as electronic trading has become faster and cheaper, with many exchanges closing their trading floors altogether. The 2020 crisis has added more uncertainty to the future of floor trading. The outbreak led the New York Stock Exchange and many others to temporary close their trading floors beginning in March 2020.2 Many exchanges are resuming floor trading in phases, but the future of the floor trader as an occupation is anything but assured._ Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-floor-traders-look-worried-because-the-stock-market-is-having-a-bad-day-or-is-it-just-for-illustration/966386/3 "2022-06-17T17:57:04Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > There will usually be a picture of traders, presumably on the floor at the NYSE, watching screens and looking worried and tired. Classically, the people they are showing are market makers, like the “Designated Market Maker” role described in this NYSE page. > **[Market Model](https://www.nyse.com/market-model)** > > The NYSE’s unique market model combines leading technology with human judgment to prioritize price discovery and stability over speed for our listed companies. The general idea is that market makers commit their own capital to providing liquidity. Liquidity in this context does not mean a commitment to any specific price level - that will move with news and with supply & demand. But they commit to providing a consistent bid-ask - a “buy” price and a “sell” price. The measure of a market’s liquidity is not necessarily how much it moves in absolute terms, but the tightness and consistency of the bid-ask spread, i.e. the _cost_ of transacting. If the bid-ask spread is 1%, then every transaction is implicitly costing you 0.5%. When there is an orderly market with a relatively balanced flux of both buying and selling, it’s generally easier for market makers to be profitable. In a disorderly market overwhelmed with sell orders, the fact that market makers are committed to providing liquidity generally means they have a torrid time. A market maker is allowed to drop their price in absolute terms as much as they deem necessary to balance supply and demand, but their commitment to providing a consistent bid-ask means that they must judge the correct price accurately under difficult conditions. They can’t just “play it safe” and drop their price 20%, because they must be willing to both buy _and_ sell down about 20%. As @Stranger_On_A_Train says, these guys are rapidly becoming obsolete. But when a newspaper wants an iconic image of a disorderly market in a selloff, an overheating CPU doesn’t capture the imagination in quite the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-floor-traders-look-worried-because-the-stock-market-is-having-a-bad-day-or-is-it-just-for-illustration/966386/4 "2022-06-17T22:47:21Z")
I suspect the “iconic” image of a floor trader looking worried is akin to the Praying Fan at major league baseball games. They’re preferred media images. That said, the average Wall St. trader/investor seems to be a brainless, panicky asshole who’s constantly vacillating between greed and hysteria. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-floor-traders-look-worried-because-the-stock-market-is-having-a-bad-day-or-is-it-just-for-illustration/966386/5 "2022-06-17T23:07:19Z")
I’d bet those images they use for the “market good / market bad” articles to click on are just stock photos. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2022, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-floor-traders-look-worried-because-the-stock-market-is-having-a-bad-day-or-is-it-just-for-illustration/966386/6 "2022-06-17T23:19:00Z")
It would be interesting to see if peak sales of stock photos of distressed traders are correlated with market bottoms. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-floor-traders-look-worried-because-the-stock-market-is-having-a-bad-day-or-is-it-just-for-illustration/966386/7 "2022-06-21T15:37:49Z")
Stocks are up today. But there’s plenty of time until the close to go from this… [![](https://www.abc.net.au/news/image/10294672-3x2-940x627.jpg) ](https://www.abc.net.au/news/image/10294672-3x2-940x627.jpg) to this: [![](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxbusiness.com/foxbusiness.com/content/uploads/2022/06/931/523/Rough-week-on-Wall-Street-Getty.jpg?ve=1&tl=1) ](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxbusiness.com/foxbusiness.com/content/uploads/2022/06/931/523/Rough-week-on-Wall-Street-Getty.jpg?ve=1&tl=1) ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-floor-traders-look-worried-because-the-stock-market-is-having-a-bad-day-or-is-it-just-for-illustration/966386/8 "2022-06-21T19:37:31Z")
They’re stock photos, there’s very little that goes on the floor these days. Market Makers try to trade delta neutral, so they’re not long or short exposure. Of course, markets don’t alway give you that opportunity. Still, it’s not the people on the floor or those making markets that are likely to jump out of the window. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-floor-traders-look-worried-because-the-stock-market-is-having-a-bad-day-or-is-it-just-for-illustration/966386/9 "2022-06-21T21:21:28Z")
And even if they weren’t stock photos (back in the days of active trading floors), the photographer and photo editor will select for pictures that visually “tell the story” in one shot. Good day? Look for happy traders, active traders, something that shows “Yay! Wall Street!” Bad day? Look for doom & gloom. It’s pretty much as simple as that.