Floor Trader
Categories: Stocks, Managed Funds, Careers, Trading
A floor trader is someone who generally lives on the floor of the NYSE (yes, there are other exchanges, but the New York holds the most floor traders) and places buy and sell orders on behalf of clients.
If you see pictures of the NYSE dudes with all sorts of intense expressions looking at tickers and laughing (or crying), you're looking at floor traders. If you decide to buy or sell a stock, there's probably a floor trader madly typing into a computer somewhere to make the trade happen.
These people are paid a commission on each trade.
A "two-dollar" broker is an independent floor trader.