Ashley Mastronardi, my colleague here from the New York Stock Exchange, is live in the city of San Francisco.
She is standing by with our next interview.
Hey, Ashley.
We are celebrating 50 years of AA options trading in San Francisco.
Joining me now is Mike West.
He is the head of operations for the New York Stock Exchange.
Mike, you just rang the closing bell with the mayor of San Francisco to celebrate.
How are you feeling?
I feel great.
This is such an iconic day.
Such a happy day for us.
A real great celebration.
We have a great team out here.
Having the mayor was something we talked about early and it came through and it really just, it made the day.
It really did.
Take us back to 1976.
This was the 4th options trading exchange in the United States.
What is the significance of that?
Options were so different back in '76.
Everything was floor based.
Everything was done manually.
We're now electronic everywhere.
There were 18 options exchanges.
We were the fourth in 1976.
The fifth came in 24 years later, and as I said, now we have 18, so it's The options industry has evolved so much in those 50 years, and you're the largest multi-listed options exchange.
What do you think has driven that success for the New York Stock Exchange?
Well, certainly for the New York Stock Exchange, our technology and our community and our members are what has driven that volume.
We're very proud of the fact that we operate.
Two exchanges, the American Options Exchange and the ACA Options Exchange, they both have floors.
They both have a large electronic presence, and it really, it's a point of pride for us.
And options trading has been booming lately.
What do you think is behind the success?
Retail has really embraced options trading in the last 5 or 6 years.
We're setting records constantly, both in volume and number of messages we process.
That success for us in particular has been our Relationship with our customers, our customer service, and the models that we have in place.
And you've mentioned that this is hybrid trading.
It's electronic and there are humans trading.
What is the significance or the importance of having a hybrid model?
So the hybrid model really plays to All kinds of investors, whether you're an institution that wants to do a large block of options trades or a retail customer that wants to do a smaller one, retail orders are going to be handled electronically typically, but the institutional orders are going to need a little more of a white glove treatment, and those are going to be handled on the floor as you celebrate today.
What excites you about the future of this options trading floor?
The fact that we've celebrated 50 years and there's no reason to think we're not going to celebrate another 50 years.
Options is a wonderful investment opportunity for Institutions and retail customers, and it's a great business for us.
That's what excites me about it.
What makes trading options unique.
Trading options is unique because it is a derivative of the equity, so it's one step removed from stock trading and it allows you to Use your portfolio to generate income and it allows you to have some insurance in your portfolio.
So there's a lot of protection involved with it and it's a great asset for that reason.
We are here on the options floor on Kearney Street in downtown San Francisco, but I understand the options floor has moved around since 1976.
Where has it been in San Francisco and what is the significance of this spot?
So we moved to this spot just in.
5 or 6 years we were over on Mills Street, which was a building that we had actually built out for us, and it was an older building which we had put a lot of infrastructure into, but it was just time to refresh.
Prior to that we were in the Pacific Stock Exchange building here, which is a beautiful building with a beautiful facade down here in downtown San Francisco.
And you mentioned the next 50 years of ACA options trading.
What do you see on the horizon?
Nothing but good stuff.
I see.
As more and more people invest, as more and more people are Trying to generate wealth in their portfolio as more and more institutions are looking for insurance options.
There's no question that they are an asset class that is here to stay.
Why do you think they're here to stay?
Because people need them.
They just provide such great opportunities.
All right, Mike West, head of operations at the New York Stock Exchange, thank you so much for joining us.
