In the United States, exchange membership is available only to individuals, some of whom hold a membership for their firm. Exchange members who trade both for customers and for themselves are called dual traders. Today, the greatest amount of futures and futures options trading is conducted by open outcry in exchange pits or trading rings. In open-outcry trading, exchange members stand in pits making bids and offers, by voice and with hand signals, to the rest of the traders in the pit. Customer orders coming into the futures pit are delivered to floor brokers or dual traders who execute them according to the order's instructions.
Orders also can indicate the period for which they are valid, e.g., a day, a week or until canceled.
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