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 pittrading to electronic trading, a move which brought more participants into the markets.
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.