Dow Corning Bankruptcy

Many people are baffled by images of hundreds of intense commodity traders in a ring-like arena, swaying, jumping, waving wild hand signals and yelling at one another. What are they shouting and gesturing about?

Pandemonium though it may appear, there’s method to their madness, clarity in the chaos. The trading pits of the world’s commodity exchanges, where thousands of trillions of dollars of futures contracts are frenetically bought and sold annually, are engines of commerce vital to global financial order and stability. Odd though it may appear, the many men (and few women, for the denizens of the futures pits are mostly male) who scream at each other are in fact experts in their craft. They both help run the world’s most transparent, orderly and largest auction exchange markets, and frequently risk their own capital.