Chicago Board Options Exchange

I work here… and I’m grateful for my bosses for giving me the opportunity to do so…
So, yeah… not as great a review as the others, but, again… just grateful

I haven’t on the floor of CBOE in a while, but it used to be a hopping place before electronic trading took over and decimated physical trading activities on most options exchanges. I remember the first time I set foot in the pits and being in awe, thinking about the scenes depicted in the movies (like «Trading Places»).

This is a fantastic place! Inside it is pretty much a typical office building but get down on the floor where the real production takes place and it is like a factory, only with sizzle.
Spent an afternoon in the pits. More like Wrigley Field after a game is over.
I was glad to see that it is still possible to get into the exchanges. New York cut off all tours after 9/​11, which is a shame. The exchanges are the last bastions of pure capitalism left in the world

Nobody has reviewed this place yet?! SCORE!
I can’t attest to the building itself, but I have plenty to say about the people within it. Two words sum it up perfectly, though: «hot traders.»
There is a little park area right outside the Board of Options — in the summer, it’s filled with people eating lunch during the workday. I highly suggest you make it a priority to park your butt over here a few days a week if you are anywhere near the South Loop, because it is an awesome place to meet people.
The ratio of men to women in that little outside area is at least 3:1, and I can say from anecdotal experience that the odds will be increasingly in your favor if you also happen to be eating some sort of dessert.

We started our trip to Chicago hoping to see the public view of the exchange… because these are post ⁹⁄₁₁ times, they wouldn’t let us go in and check out the action.
But the security guy was very nice explaining to us the situation and recommended a good place to go and get some lunch