Traditionally the trading of futures contracts on
the exchange floor was permitted only between exchange members. However, with
the advent of electronic trading, anyone with the appropriate trading rights
agreement with a clearing firm, direct or through brokers, can now trade futures
electronically.
Purchases and sales positions for the same contract
month offset each other and are built up on a daily basis. Rather than carry
such trades until maturity, the clearing house matches offsetting positions and
clears them from the records of the brokers who handled them. The clearing house
takes the place of the buyer or seller: it performs the role of seller to all
buyers, and that of buyer to all sellers. In this way a maximum number of direct
settlements is automatically possible at the close of each trading day.
In London all transactions take place in an
electronic setting where trades are entered and completed in a screen-based
environment. In New York, arabica transactions take place both in 'rings' or
'pits' on a trading floor where authorized floor brokers gather during market
hours to trade contracts through 'open outcry', as well as electronically as in
London.
New York
robusta trading is entirely electronic.