Floor Brokers: How They Facilitate Stock Trades & Market Insights

A floor broker is an individual who works on the floor of a stock exchange in order to facilitate trades. This individual works for a financial brokerage and places trades on its behalf.

The ultimate job of the floor broker is to take the trades that are placed by the brokerage's clients and get them filled as quickly as possible at the best prices that he can find. A floor broker works in a very high-paced environment in which many people are attempting to trade securities. The floor broker has to be able to work with other individuals on the floor in order to get orders filled as quickly as he can.

It is important to realize that not everyone on the floor of a stock exchange is a floor broker. In some cases, the individuals are known as floor traders. These individuals trade on the floor of the stock exchange for their own personal accounts. They might also work for an institutional investor. A floor broker is not trading for himself. Rather, he is trading on behalf of the customers who are placing orders with the brokerage firm that employs him.