The New York Stock Exchange is set to reopen its iconic trading floor after operating with it closed for the first time in 228 years
- The New York Stock Exchange is set to return to its iconic trading floor on Tuesday after shutting down for two months over coronavirus-related safety concerns.
- Traders who return to the floor will be subject to new regulations such as submitting to temperature checks, wearing face masks, and eating only at the cafeteria to avoid removing their masks.
- According to The Wall Street Journal, traders will be required to sign a liability waiver that restricts them from suing the NYSE should they contract the coronavirus while working.
- The stock exchange traces its current form back to 1903, when its trading floor opened inside the current building.
After a two-month precautionary closing, the New York Stock Exchange was ready to reopen its renowned trading floor on Tuesday.
On March 23, the exchange began operating without any kind of trading floor for the first time in its 228-year history as the coronavirus pandemic overwhelmed New York City.
The NYSE's roots in trading were set in 1792 when a handful of brokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement on Wall Street, but the stock exchange traces its current form back to 1903, when its trading floor opened inside the current building. The NYSE had previously shut down operations, but the trading floor had never been closed with the exchange still operating until this year.
Since closing down two months ago, the exchange had been limited to all-electronic trading, according to an op-ed article in The Wall Street Journal by the NYSE's president, Stacey Cunningham.
Compared with the iconic images of traders seen on the NYSE trading floor, the exchange will now look and feel different, as only one-quarter of the workforce is expected to return at one time, The Journal reported.
Under the new measures, those who return will be required to wear face masks, steer clear of public transportation, follow stringent social distancing, conform to temperature checks, and avoid physical contact.
There's also a ban on bringing visitors to the floor, and meals will be allowed only at designated spots in the NYSE's cafeteria.
Traders will also reportedly be subject to signing a liability waiver that prohibits them from suing the exchange should they contract the virus.
According to a copy of the waiver seen by The Journal, traders must acknowledge that returning to work could result in "contracting Covid-19, respiratory failure, death, and transmitting Covid-19 to family or household members and others who may also suffer these effects."
The NYSE did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Markets Insider outside business hours.
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