Speed has always been important—and controversial—on Wall Street.
In the 1980s, for example, traditionalists lamented the new faces and new footwear that began to appear on trading floors of stock exchanges. “They fired the old guys and got younger guys, who wore Nikes instead of wingtips,” says Bernard Donefer, associate director of the Subotnick Financial Services Center at City College of New York. The idea was to get trades to specialist desks faster and faster. Some firms even tried outfitting traders with roller skates to secure an advantage.
