NYSE Moving to All-Electronic Trading, Starting Monday

Equities and options trading floors in New York will close along with an options trading floor in San Francisco.

(Photo: Jin Lee/Bloomberg)

The New York Stock Exchange is moving temporarily to all-electronic trading starting with the market open on Monday, March 23.

This is “a precautionary step to protect employees and the floor community in response to COVID-19,” according to a statement from Intercontinental Exchange, which operates the NYSE and other exchanges.

ICE is temporarily closing the NYSE equities and  NYSE American Options trading floors in New York along with the NYSE Arca Options trading floor in San Francisco as part of a temporary business continuity plan.

“All NYSE markets will continue to operate under normal trading hours and trading and regulatory oversight of all NYSE-listed securities will continue without interruption,” said NYSE President Stacey Cunningham in a statement.

On the NYSE’s equities market, the designated market makers will connect to the exchange electronically to provide liquidity in their stocks, but floor broker order types will be unavailable. On the NYSE’s options markets, electronic trading will continue normally but open-outcry trading will be suspended.

“Our markets are fully capable of operating in an all-electronic fashion to serve all participants, and we will proceed in that manner until we can re-open our trading floors to our members,” said Cunningham. “While we are taking the precautionary step of closing the trading floors, we continue to firmly believe the markets should remain open and accessible to investors.”

— Read more of ThinkAdvisor’s coronavirus coverage here.