New York Stock Exchange moves to ‘fully electronic’ trading amid coronavirus outbreak

Coronavirus claimed another casualty Wednesday — the famed New York Stock Exchange “pit.”

The exchange announced Wednesday that it would temporarily suspend in-person trading and require all transactions to be electronic, starting Monday.

“The decision to temporarily close the trading floors represents a precautionary step to protect the health and well-being of employees and the floor community in response to COVID-19,” Intercontinental Exchange Inc., which runs the exchange, said in a statement posted on social media.

For many years, most of the trading at the NYSE and other stock exchanges has been electronic anyway.

But the images of man in shirtsleeves rushing about the floor, yelling and waving pieces of paper has been an iconic image in news photographs and movies from “Trading Places” to “Wall Street.”

“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,” Stacey Cunningham, president of the New York Stock Exchange, said in the statement.