The Essential Analogue Trading Floor Data Gathering Device

As my 40 years of LIFFE tribute was continuing to reverberate around the LinkedIn ether last week, I found a little memento of trading times past something while tidying in the basement. It amounts to the essential trading floor data gathering device, or as we knew it, a trading card.

It's a handy aide memoire on a couple of levels. With hindsight, it reminds us how times were remarkably simple for data gathering in the open outcry era too!

If you're a millennial, you may find this concept astounding… but bear with me. The photo depicts the GUI ("Graphical User Interface") for trading on the LIFFE floor (also used worldwide in similar versions, adopted from original formats prototyped/perfected in Chicago) until the final LIFFE pits closed in 2000 AD.

The trading card was a simple 'write on' device for pit traders, recording their completed pit transactions, not machine readable but requiring human interface to decode. It was single use, non reprogrammable and thus data was "hard coded" in pen onto the two sides - "Sold" - with red printed detail as seen here and "Buy" (in blue). This particular card was used by Tullett & Tokyo (corporate mnemonic "TNT").

NB While strictly not 'reprogrammable' per se some traders preferred an order entry method which was not in ink pen (usually biro…I mean quills were for Dickensian traders…) and deployed pencils instead which - when used in conjunction with an eraser - could allow the order entry data line to be amended even after the initial details were written. This clearly had some ledger issues in terms of ongoing record keeping which could be both positive or potentially negative.

Given the trading card was not machine readable, sometimes deciphering the data on busy days could resemble a spot of Egyptology after it was handed / thrown by a pit trader to the 'runners' / back up staff who then separately entered data into confirmations and then filed it for data entry into the LIFFE settlement computers (full retyping required: no "copy / paste" facility was possible). The floor back office 'yellow jackets' also checked the trades matched customer orders etc. As the card did not interface with any other devices it was archived after its single use and eventually destroyed.

On data entry: the data stored was compartmentalised by (as shown in the photographed sell card) Quantity, Contract Month (letters H, M, U, Z for the usual quarterly contracts of March / June / Sept / Dec) the price traded and finally the mnemonic of the counterparty (buyer / seller respectively depending on the side of card).

Thus a complex order might result in multiple data entries on different lines due to different counterparties and / or different prices / quantities which would be added on a "as traded" basis. Data could therefore have diverse sizes and prices depending on how the market moved during order execution. (While orders were traded on a form of FIFO algorithm, floor etiquette generally meant there was a proportional element of execution distribution through the pit between multiple counterparties for larger transactions). Cards it seems nonetheless had some minor bugs - e.g. for some reason half ticks seem to have been rarely, if ever, recorded on them…

Used cards from executed trades would eventually be stored alongside a welter of other confirmations. These pieces of paper were all stapled and or reconciled together with an elastic band for each trade order and placed in a large black plastic bin bag according to the day or trade. After a week this daily bag was - in the case of TNT - placed in a locked room the basement. In the event of a subsequent problem (as was very occasionally the case) accessing this bagged card 'database' involved a trip to said basement. When TNT were still in the old Bucklersbury House (since replaced by Bloomberg HQ), the tricky part was not merely discerning which black refuse sack pertained to which day, the data retrieval process involved spotting the appropriate tag and retrieving the bag without upsetting the rats who rather enjoyed the warm environment the paper filled bags provided as shelter. This amounted to a process not entirely as intrepid as Indiana Jones but not entirely fun, and much more time consuming than checking a spreadsheet.

Remember this was in the early days of "spreadsheets" and indeed 'upstairs' the data entry terminals for settlement were monochrome green text monitors. 286 chipped PCs were only for the more elite broking functions…

On the other hand, cards not used for trading could be multifunctional and were deployed in an almost infinite way. Like modern data gathering devices, they could serve as shopping lists for instance plus various database tasks (including catching that phone number of an evening when you met somebody definitively attractive anywhere from The Cock'n'Wool Pack to Corney & Barrow / somewhere 'up west' or out east e.g.Tots nightclub, wherever… Cards were versatile and travelled well as data recording devices, being usable in multiple weather conditions albeit with some interface / input retention problems in very wet conditions.

In other use cases, these cards were deployed as notes to runners for placing of bets with the local bookmakers (this was before online gambling, remember). That entire process has now become a direct interface on the mobile phone itself. Runners demonstrated the multivariable functions of the trading card by using them to record the sandwich orders for the traders' lunches.

Cards could also be repurposed as missiles in various guises (side flicked basic cards often packed an unforgettable sting when spun by an expert trader). True a variation of this impact can also be achieved with a mobile phone but it risks your personal database being irrevocably lost through phone appropriation by the recipient victim or damage to the device. A blank card on the other hand just hurts and this was long before we all got nervous about the planet being lost due to another piece of printed matter not being recycled.

Perhaps the ultimate variation of the card was the floor's endorsement of Origami during the great Japanese bull market of the 1980's with the resultant "Shark!" shape becoming predominant and a regular feature of all too many yellow jackets' early career embarrassment.

For those who preferred their trading cards in original format, they had multifunctional possibilities without data input, essentially only bounded by human imagination. Again this is not something commonly undertaken with modern mobile devices… Cards for instance proved ideal for placing under those annoying bar / restaurant tables which were proving unstable to the touch. In the event of an uncovered table, the card could even work as a handy beer mat.

Trading cards also made for excellent bookmarks (the annotation space was handy too) which was where this example emerged the other day…

LIFFE was unforgettable. The good times, great memories, and interesting / amusing / engaging people are always cherished. Open outcry trading floors epitomised the wonders of the analogue world before big data became a thing and we left our entire worldly knowledge on our telephone.

Thanks for reading - what unique purpose did you deploy your trading cards for?

If you want to read more about LIFFE, you can read my previous article about it: 40 Years Later: A LIFFE Story