Advanced Trading visited the new trading floor for GETCO Execution Services, the solutions arm of the firm where clients can access a wide range of tools from trading algorithms to execution services to a dark pool, GETMatched. We also visited the firm's Designated Market Maker station on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to see first-hand how they facilitate trades for their clients.

Advanced Trading takes you on an exclusive tour of Abel Noser's New York trading floor, where the agency broker known for transaction cost analysis, is customizing algorithms for the buy side, while growing its fixed income trading and transitions business.

Liquidnet is a full-service institutional agency brokerage firm whose core mission is to provide block liquidity to like-minded buy side traders. Launched in 2001, Liquidnet's pool of natural liquidity enables fund managers to negotiate large blocks of equities directly and anonymously with each other. Today, Liquidnet operates a global institutional trading network in 39 equity markets across five continents with offices in London, Toronto, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Singapore.

Investment Technology Group is an independent agency broker and financial technology provider specializing in institutional liquidity, execution services, analytical tools and proprietary research grounded in data. The firm has been a leader in electronic trading since launching Posit in 1987, the first anonymous crossing and trade-matching venue for institutional investors. Today ITG offers algorithms, pre-and post-trade analytical tools and dark crossing as well as a high-touch trading desk.

Bloomberg Tradebook runs a global institutional agency brokerage business from its trading floor on Manhattan's upper east side, focusing on multi-asset class executions in equities, futures, options and FX. Launched as an ECN in 1995, Tradebook has recently redefined and broadened its focus to include execution consulting, research and commission management.

Direct Access Partners operates an institutional agency brokerage business from its downtown Manhattan trading floor, focusing on multi-asset class executions in equities, fixed income, options and futures — both domestic and international.

Nomura Securities International embarked on a major expansion of its U.S. equities trading operations, by hiring top talent and constructing a New York trading floor located in Wall Street's World Financial Center.

First New York Securities operates a proprietary trading business from its midtown Manhattan trading floor, which houses teams that execute across multiple asset classes, including U.S. Equities, international equities, commodities, foreign exchange, Treasuries, futures and options, and macro rates.

Instinet's new midtown Manhattan trading floor encompasses the global agency broker's execution services in single stocks, North America, international equities trading, global program sales and trading, derivatives sales and trading as well as special situations desk. Instinet provides access to electronic trading products, including smart-routing, algorithms, direct market access, dark pools and execution management (EMS) platforms, and also provide sales trading, commission management services and independent research.

Ticonderoga Securities operates a dual capability with a New York Stock Exchange floor based team providing direct access as well as the desk based models. The firm concentrates on domestic and international equities and focuses on high quality, conflict free order execution, as well as a differentiated research offering to support its first class execution capabilities.

ConvergEx's midtown Manhattan trading floor is home to a cross-section of traders covering equities, options, fixed income and derivatives. The floor trades on an agency basis for ConvergEx customers and also supports the extensive trading technologies and tools that the firm provides to those clients who trade on their own behalf.

RBC Capital Markets recently rebuilt its trading floor, converging trading operations from two New York locations to build a new floor at 3 World Financial Center. The new 71,000 square foot floor has 700 plus seats and houses equity, options and fixed-income trading.

Capital Institutional Services (CAPIS) is an independent agency firm that provides 24-hour global execution services, commission management solutions and independent research. The Dallas-based firm employs 105 people. Its trading desk is comprised of global equity, global fixed-income and options trading, as well as transition management and program trading.

Cuttone & Company is a New York-based full-service institutional broker and prime brokerage service provider specializing in arbitrage, corporate action, special situation and block trade executions.

Fidelity Capital Markets has launched a new 100-seat trading floor in midtown Manhattan. The floor will trade both equities and fixed income and will be home to the firm's growing prime brokerage business. Previously Fidelity had these groups located in various locations in Manhattan and Jersey City. The firm built the new floor to unify the groups and to expand its operations. Fidelity's largest trading floor with 450 seats is located in its Boston headquarters.

The NYSE Amex options trading floor was opened in March of 2009 and offers both electronic and open outcry equity options trading. The new floor brings together options traders from the American Stock Exchange (Amex), which was acquired by NYSE Euronext, and the NYSE onto one trading floor and platform.

Nicholas-Applegate is an investment management firm based in San Diego, California.

Lightspeed Trading is a direct-access brokerage firm that focuses on the professional retail trader and small to midsize hedge funds, providing them with institutional-quality trading tools. The firm's New York headquarters include a trading floor built for 35 to 40 traders and also house the majority of Lightspeed's executive, IT and customer support staff.

JonesTrading is an agency-only broker-dealer specializing in large block trades for its buy side customers. The firm's Westlake Village trading floor is home to 36 sales traders and 8 agency traders.

Russell Investments is a global provider of investment products and services, as well as a pioneer in multimanager investing and the creator of the Russell Indexes.

Rosenblatt Securities is a New York-based agency brokerage that was founded by Richard (Dick) Rosenblatt in 1979 as an NYSE floor brokerage. As trading has become more electronic, Rosenblatt has evolved into a boutique that helps its buy-side clients achieve best execution while navigating the new market structure.

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange, created in 1790, was the first U.S. stock exchange. And in 1975, the exchange became the first regional exchange to trade equity options. The PHLX began as a floor-based exchange, trading via an auction market. It has evolved into a hybrid market with the AUTOM--Automated Options Market system which was introduced in 1988. AUTOM, which is still used today, was created to allow electronic delivery of option orders from member firms to the exchange floor, automatic execution of certain orders, and electronic confirmation of orders.

The trading floor at Weeden & Co.'s Greenwich, Conn., headquarters is designed to foster teamwork, cooperation and communication among the full-service institutional broker's 75-plus traders, sales traders and assistants on the floor, and about 25 other traders in its regional branches in Boston, San Francisco and Chicago. The floor services Weeden's 1,500 institutional clients with NYSE/Regional, Nasdaq/OTC and program trading.

BGC Partners, a fixed-income, inter-dealer broker, spent the end of the year gearing up for two important technology upgrades. The first is an internal firm-wide roll out of BGC Trader, a trading graphical user interface developed for BGC by eSpeed. The firm, which has traditionally been a voice broker, plans to offer a hybrid model where traders can call orders into a broker or type in orders through a trading graphical user interface it calls BGC Trader.

With 1,400 seats, 2,000 computers and 5,000 monitors, the UBS trading floor is noted by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest single trading floor in the world. The floor is home to traders, sales traders, quants, technology support, executives and others among its various groups, which include fixed income, commodities, currencies, money markets, derivatives, equities, international trading, algorithmic trading, direct market access, program trading and more.

ING Investment Management's equities trading operation has gone through a transformation over the past two years since Nanette Buziak, head equity trader, took the helm. When Buziak joined ING, she was charged with consolidating the firm's two trading floors — one in Hartford, Conn., and the other in New York.

Knight's trading floor, built two years ago, currently accommodates 321 traders. Most of the technology used is proprietary, such as its order management system, which is a core technology for Knight's institutional business. In the photos that follow you can see how the floor is structured and who sit where, as well as some close-ups of the technology used on specific desks. Later on in the photo gallery we also take a peek at Knight's data center and describe its functions.