Pork Chop

Pork chop refers to an arrangement whereby NYSE employees cover the booth for a floor broker and accept orders, phone calls and associated tasks.

NYSE clerks in charge of maintaining the booths are directly compensated by the floor brokers who own them. This arrangement, or pork chop, is beneficial to the floor brokers as it allows them to handle orders off the floor of the NYSE while still taking orders and maintaining trading requirements on the floor.

Floor brokers operate on the floor of stock or commodities exchanges, executing orders for others' accounts. They should not be confused with floor traders, who trade for their own accounts. They also differ from specialists, who hold inventories of stocks and act as market makers. Floor brokers' clients consist of banks, brokerages, pension funds, mutual funds and other large investors. Floor brokers earn a commission on each trade they execute.

Although floor brokers operate on the trading floor, they also do electronic trading. They also operate as part of the Broker Booth Support System, which directs orders between brokers and trading booths.