Small pits formed pricing cliques that stabilized quotes, to firmsā annoyance.
Evidence
The larger crowds were ā¦ really competitive and ā¦ sometimes egos would get in the way and ā¦ some guy would get a trade and the next guy would say āWell, I would have paid an eighth better for twice the amount,ā and thereād be screaming and shouting. But in some of the slower pits ā¦ there wasnāt as much competition, then there would [be] more of a sharing basis, which was always a problem to some of the ļ¬rms because they viewed them ā¦ somewhat as cliques and nobody would ever break rank in terms of pricing. If an order came in, and the market would be [bid] one-eighth, [ask] one-half, or something ā¦ nobody would ever sell it at three-eighths, nobody would ever break rank. ā Donald MacKenzie & Yuval Millo, Constructing a Market, Performing Theory, 89