Out of the Pits: Traders and Technology from Chicago to London (Hardcover)

by Caitlin Zaloom (Author)
Key Phrases: market chatter, bond pit, open outcry pits, Perkins Silver, New York, Essex Man (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Zaloom''s superb book is a double-site ethnography. She first worked as a runner on the Chicago Board of Trade. . . . The appearance of chaos hid a complex social order, which Zaloom delineates beautifully."-Donald MacKenzie, Times Literary Supplement (Donald MacKenzie TLS )

"A fascinating story, likely to be engaging not only for sociologists, particularly those interested in markets, but for other social scientists and nonacademic audiences as well."-Brooke Harrington, American Journal of Sociology (Brooke Harrington American Journal of Sociology )

"Zaloom''s account of the social world of the pits . . . demonstrates interpretive skills reminiscent of classics of cultural and economic anthropology. In this book, she has provided an empirically rich and theroretically sophisticated ethnographic account." (Michael McQuarrie Theoretical Sociology )

"In her brilliant qualitative study . . . Zaloom makes a strong case for the relevance of cultural analysis in extending our understanding of the functionality and evolution of organized markets and exchanges. Her excellent achievement demonstrates the power of interdisciplinary approaches in extending the scope and the richness of scholarship in business and economic history." (Paul Miranti Business History Review )

"The book is half fascinating cultural portrait and half in-depth academic text. . . . What emerges from the mix is a nuanced, bottom-up picture of Chicago''s economic importance in the world market, and how our city''s working-class swagger has shaped derivatives trading from the inception of the market." (Ruth Welte Time Out Chicago )

Product Description

From New York to Singapore, from Chicago to London, the trading floors of the world’s financial markets are icons of global capitalism. Images of them are used on the news all the time—traders burying their heads in their hands when the market is down, their arms flailing in a frenzy when fortunes are rising—to convey the current state of the economy. But these marketplaces, and the cultural life that sustains them, are dissolving into the ether of the digital age: powerful financial institutions are shutting down the trading pits, replacing face-to-face exchanges with an electronic network where traders sit, face to screen, finger to mouse, and compete in a global arena made up of digits and charts. 

Out of the Pits considers the implications of this sea change for everyone involved, from the traders and brokers to the market as a whole. Caitlin Zaloom takes us down to the floor at the Chicago Board of Trade and into a digital dealing room in the City of London. Drawing on her own firsthand experiences as a clerk and a trader and on her unusual access to these key sites of global finance, she explainshow changes at the world’s leading financial exchanges have transformed economic cultures and the craft of speculation; how people and places are responding to the digital transition; how traders are remaking themselves to compete in the contemporary marketplace; and how brokers, business managers, and software designers are collaborating to build new financial markets. 

A penetrating and richly detailed account of how cities, culture, and technology shape everyday life in the new global economy, Out of the Pits will be must reading for business buffs or anyone who has ever wondered how financial markets work.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226978133
• ISBN-13: 978-0226978130
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #483,389 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Time to Evolve, August 17, 2007

By	takingadayoff "takingadayoff" (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Out of the Pits: Traders and Technology from Chicago to London, December 20, 2007

By	C. Joyce (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Interesting book, well written. Covers trading from an integrated point of view about how technology, money and other events interconnect. Gives trading a human touch. Glad I have the book.