Inside the Role of a Runner in Exchange Floor Trading: How They Keep Markets Moving
Discover the essential role of runners in exchange floor trading, their responsibilities, and how they facilitate seamless trade execution in modern financial markets.
Andy Smith is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), licensed realtor, and educator with over 35 years of extensive experience in financial management. He specializes in personal finance, corporate finance, and real estate, having helped thousands of clients achieve their financial goals throughout his career.
What Is a Runner in Exchange Trading?
A runner is typically a junior broker-dealer employee responsible for delivering trade orders to floor traders on the exchange for execution. These entry-level roles serve as a stepping stone toward becoming clerks, traders, or brokers within the financial industry.
Key Insights
- Runners are junior employees on securities exchange floors who transmit trade order information to the correct destinations.
- Despite the rise of electronic trading, runners remain vital in the remaining active trading pits.
- Starting as a runner offers a career pathway leading to higher roles such as traders or brokers.
Understanding the Runner’s Role
During the era of open outcry floor trading, trade orders were recorded on paper tickets that needed processing by exchanges and clearing firms. Runners played a crucial role by physically carrying these orders between traders and brokers, ensuring accurate and timely communication.
While automated systems have largely taken over, floor trading still exists on certain exchanges, and runners continue to support this traditional method of trade execution.
The New York Stock Exchange, for example, still employs floor traders who often rely on runners to assist in managing large trade executions within the exchange’s trading pits.
Exchange Floor Trading Today
Although electronic trading dominates, floor trading remains significant for some exchanges, contributing to market transparency and branding within the financial sector. The use of runners depends on the broker-dealer’s operational approach.
Some broker-dealers personally handle client orders, writing and executing them directly on the exchange floor. Others utilize runners to deliver trade orders from clerks to brokers within the trading pits.
Runners are responsible for accurately communicating all order details as received from clients to ensure error-free trade execution. Despite often earning modest wages, their role is critical in maintaining smooth trading operations.
Once orders are executed, runners return the completed tickets to clerks for final processing.
Floor brokers act as market makers on the trading floor, matching buy and sell orders using a bid-ask system. They execute trades by vocal signals, hand gestures, or exchange-specific protocols.
Successful trades result in brokers earning the spread—the difference between the bid and ask prices. Floor brokers operate under strict exchange and regulatory rules to maintain fair and orderly markets.
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