The 1970s saw innovation in financial futures, the 1980s and 1990s in derivatives, and in the following decade innovation was around the structure and ownership of exchanges as they de-mutualized and went from pit trading to electronic trading, a move which brought more participants into the markets.

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Jump Trading , a firm founded in 1999 by two former pit traders (one of whom got his start trading for thrill-seeker Steve Fossett), has 50 traders buying and selling a variety of contracts by computer.

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Later, as a broker, Duffy stood on the top stair of the pit in an exchange-issued red trading jacket and filled orders.

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In the ten-year pit, with one exception, all locals--those trading for their own accounts or on behalf of an investment firm--trade using computers.

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Interactive Brokers , one of the largest options trading firms, will begin offering clients access to a pit trader at the CME and the Chicago Board Options Exchange later this month, adding the NYMEX later this year.

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They set up the office like a trading floor: an open, 10, 000-square-foot pit with monitors tracking air traffic.

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The trading area used to be so crowded that it was hard to even get in and out of the pit, especially on big days such as when the monthly U.S. jobs report came out.

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