New York Mercantile Exchange

Can you smell the finance in the air? Smells like commerce.

When you see footage in those 1980’s stock market exploitation films with images of traders in goofy outfits, yelling orders, throwing futures contracts, and giving hand signals — you’re looking at the NYMEX. If you’ve seen Trading Places, you’ll see Akroyd and Murphy on the Floor of the NYMEX, trading frozen orange juice futures.
I was there when oil was only a $ 1 and change away from being $ 100 a barrel. So gangster.
The neat thing about the NYMEX is that anyone can trade there, that is, if you have $ 20-​odd million to pay for a «seat» there. Looking down on the floor, you see a lot of normal-​looking people dressed in street clothes just trading away.
However, the NYMEX is facing a grim future, since many commodities can be traded electronically without the need for a physical exchange. Check it out while you still can.