From Wall Street to Chicago, why stock exchanges ring their bells.

new york
CNN
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The New York Stock Exchange begins trading every weekday morning at 9:30 a.m. ET with the rapid-paced clanging of a shimmering brass bell. The world’s largest stock exchange by market capitalization has been around for more than 150 years with much fanfare.

The sound, so iconic that it has been trademarked, will once again echo through the trading floor just before the stock market closes at 4:00 PM ET. What used to be an uproar with screaming floor brokers and countless sheets of paper scattered on the ground, the New York Stock Exchange’s hybrid market now has much of the trading done electronically. The unrest has largely subsided.

From Wall Street to the Nasdaq Exchange in Times Square to the Chicago Options Exchange, each trading session is marked by a ringing bell.

The stock exchange says the ringing of the bell remains an important guide and both a ritual celebrating the market’s resilience through devastating lows and exuberant highs.

“There may be fewer people responding to the bell, but there’s still a significant percentage,” said Peter Ash, chief historian at the New York Stock Exchange. “That bell is an important landmark for them, whether they are ordering electronically or physically going to the point of sale.”

The New York Stock Exchange had about 5,000 people on its floor during its busiest years, from the 1950s to the early 21st century. Ash says there are now about 300 people. Cameras and producers from the Business Television Network will film the exchange and guests. The exchange is not open to the public.

Anyone can apply to ring the bell of the New York Stock Exchange. There is an online form to fill out and there is no charge. However, there are requirements.

Guest from President Ronald Reagan, tennis legend Serena Williams, MTV’s “Jersey Shore” cast and South African President Nelson Mandela rang the bell. Ringing the bell is also an honor (or marketing opportunity) for many CEOs, often commemorating special occasions such as initial public offerings.

This opportunity is initially limited to companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, but other organizations and nonprofits are also invited.

Unlike the NYSE, where a button must be held down and the bell is rung electronically, the Chicago Options Exchange’s bell must be rung manually using a tassel. The opening bell will ring at the same time as the New York Stock Exchange bell, and the closing bell will ring at 3:15 p.m. CT (4:15 p.m. ET) when Cboe index option products close.

David Howson, global president of Seabo Global Markets, said he encourages guests to tug on the tassel at least five times to make a sound loud enough to cut through the din of the trading floor. But guests can be frightened by the ringer, and floor employees don’t always make things easier, he says.

“It was only for a short time that traders on the floor were encouraging bell ringers to ring the bell early, just for fun,” Howson said.

For others, the sound of the bell is cause for a different kind of cheer. Mark McCooey, a financial advisor at Morgan Stanley, was a floor broker on the New York Stock Exchange from 1990 to 1997. He ate his lunch standing up, was alert when going to the bathroom, and was ready to jump out if a call came in at any moment, he recalls. . Some people on the trading floor wear pedometers and record 6 to 8 miles of steps each day by walking between different stock panels.

“It’s a constant. There’s no hiding under the desk,” he said. “So hearing that second bell is really a relief.”

McCooey said he would be ankle-deep in discarded paper by the end of the day. At times, rice and other food were dumped on the floor, and sheets stuck to the shoes of people walking through the rubble. On slow days, I stapled order forms to the backs of other people’s jackets to create 10-foot-long tails. The caretaker later swept it all up and piled it up in a pile 4 to 5 feet high.

Until now, the Nasdaq Exchange did not have a trading venue. But Karen Snow, Nasdaq’s global head of listings, said the opening and closing bell ceremonies celebrate the connection between Wall Street and Main Street.

The podium from which the bell rings faces large windows overlooking Times Square. Pedestrians often flock to watch the festival from outside.

On March 8, representatives from Microsoft, Bumble, and UN Women, an organization of the United Nations, were invited to the closing bell ceremony to celebrate International Women’s Day. As soon as the bell rang, pink confetti sprayed from the machine in front of the podium. (The bell ringer can choose a color.) When the bell finished ringing, Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night Away” from the “Barbie” soundtrack rang out. (“Barbie” was distributed by Warner Bros., which is owned by CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.)

“Pick a holiday because it’s like Christmas. It’s a tradition. It’s so deeply ingrained in our culture, and American culture,” Snow said.

Sometimes, when the bell rings, I feel depressed.

The New York Stock Exchange, located just a few blocks from the World Trade Center, was temporarily closed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Many employees of financial companies that had offices in the trade center were missing or injured in the attack. Many of the communications and public facilities necessary for stock trading were damaged or destroyed.

On September 17, 2001, when the U.S. stock market reopened, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 684 points. At this point, it was the largest single-day points drop ever. The blue-chip stock index continued its worst five-day performance since the Great Depression.

Trudy Wagner, who worked on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange from 1993 to 2007, said, “I remember opening the exchange after 9/11 and closing it that trading day.” .There were many [trading] Volume. ”

Former floor brokers say their days still depend somewhat on stock market times. Wagner still has recurring nightmares about missing the high-speed ferry from New Jersey to Manhattan and arriving too late to hear the opening bell.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t perks that come with the job. At the New York Stock Exchange, where she most recently sat at the exchange’s desk as a vice president at Goldman Sachs, her day ended when the final bell rang and trading ended. . After taking off her blue trading coat, Wagner said, she raced home, and if she was fast enough, she could be in New Jersey by 5:30 p.m. She often went to the beach.

Now part-owner of a specialty cheese and charcuterie grocery store in Charleston, South Carolina, her work hours have noticeably decreased and become dry.

Seventeen years after leaving Wall Street, are there any rituals that still stick with Wagner? She still hears her starting bell on TV most mornings. “When I look at the clock, I always have 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. in my head and think about the importance of those times,” Wagner said.