An era is coming to an end.
Today is the last day of open-outcry trading in the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)-owned pits in lower Manhattan where commodities such as cotton, coffee, cocoa, sugar and orange juice are traded, the Wall Street Journal's Leslie Josephs reports.
Open-outcry is a is a form of communication where traders use hand signals to exchange information for negotiating buy and sell orders.
This form of face-to-face trading has basically died out in recent years with the rise of electronic trading.
Back in July, Atlanta-based ICE announced that it would end its open-outcry trading for all options on futures listed on ICE Futures U.S. beginning in October, the company said in a release.
According to the WSJ, ICE has been pushing for electronic commodities trading. What's more is ICE will be the first commodities exchange in the U.S. to ditch open-outcry completely.
SEE: Check Out Hand Signals Traders In The Pits Of The NYMEX Use >
SEE ALSO: Check Out 9 Different Hand Signals Floor Traders Use For Buy And Sell Orders >
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