Open Outcry

The traditional method of trading on an exchange floor where brokers and traders shout bids and offers and use hand signals to communicate. Once the dominant form of price discovery, open outcry has been largely replaced by electronic trading. The Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange pits were the last major holdouts, with most commodities and futures moving to screens by the mid-2010s. A small number of options contracts still trade via open outcry at the CBOE, preserving a link to the colorful, chaotic history of exchange trading.