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Technology in financial networks 2012002). There, in the pit, traders use this global information to identify a valuefor contracts for wheat and bond futures. The trading pit itself acts as a technologyfor arranging a local network of traders whose interdependence andmutual knowledge create the daily market at the CBOT.Economic information is delivered directly to the pit. Traders orient theirprofit-making strategies around the information available to them within thelegal space of trade. Some choose to read specialized market reports that charthistorical trends in the market, others follow government agencies closely. Alltraders watch for significant new information from the Federal Reserve andthe Treasury, such as changes in interest rates and the consumer price index.At the moment that these significant numbers are announced, the CBOTbroadcasts them to the floor, posting them on the electronic screens that bandall four walls of the hangar-like room. Alan Greenspan’s reports to Congressplay on the two-storey tall television screens that cut an angle across the southand west sides of the room.However, many traders gather the most important information from withinthe pit itself. For these traders, the social network of the pit provides the informationalmaterials for trading. Traders constitute the market by directly watchingeach other, observing the trading habits of the successful traders in orderto emulate them and examining the failing strategies of others in order toexploit their weaknesses for profit. 9 Traders use their networks of friends andcolleagues to gather information about the market, to find a profitable place inthe pit to work, and to complete trades with their friends and long-time coworkers.One strategy for profit-making relies on a “feel for the market” based onthe collective effervescence on the CBOT trading floor. Listening to therhythms of the changing bid and offer numbers brings on a sensation that leadstraders to judge the market as “heavy” or “light,” likely to rise or fall accordingto their sensory estimations. Beyond creating the basis for individualtrader’s economic judgments, the ambient noise affects the market as a whole.Afeel for the market has concrete effects. Economists studying the CBOTfound that increased sound levels lead to higher trading volumes and foreshadowperiods of high volatility in the pits (Coval and Shumway, 1998). Thisaffective information is possible only in a face-to-face market where tradersexperience the excitement of the market in the bodies and voices of theircompanions and rivals.Traders utilize their knowledge of others’ trading strategies to orient theirown exchange tactics. This mutual exploitation is especially pointed in relationshipsbetween “locals,” who are self-funded, independent traders, andbrokers, who work on client commissions to complete trades. Brokers createrelationships of reciprocity with local traders. The locals will accept trades thatcarry a potential loss. This allows for the client to complete the trade. In