Chicago’s trading pits operate through a physical spatial hierarchy tied to seniority and capital

Evidence

Viewed from the galleries from which (before September 11, 2001) visitors could watch, Chicago’s pits could appear to be places of frenzied chaos. Those who trade in them, however, do so day after day, and, especially in the smaller pits, they are normally trading repeatedly with the same people. Traders often stand in the same spot every day, and where one stands is consequential. There is a spatial hierarchy in Chicago’s pits, as Caitlin Zaloom (2004) found in the pits of the Board of Trade and as Cari Lynn (2004) found at the Mercantile Exchange. Novice traders begin at the bottom, in what is sometimes called “the soup,” and as they gain in seniority, in capital, and in ability to take on larger trades, they are allowed gradually to move up the steps of the pit. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 696

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the pit-specific term ‘the soup’ for the novice traders’ position at the bottom of the spatial hierarchy.
• XREF: connects to: Physical layout of exchange pits shapes who traders can see and trade with. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 79