For those who have seen Trading Places – and like me wondered how the final scene actually works or loved the New York Board of Trade flip dot board) – and wondered what all those hand signals meant, well there’s a website for you. It is called Trading Pit History and is curated by Ryan Carlson, who has worked at the Kansas City Board of Trade, Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago Mercantile Exchange and New York Mercantile Exchange.

This project solicits any and all examples of hand signals from any futures trading floor which aren’t already on the website. Any critique of information contained is also encouraged as some hand signals are from secondhand sources and the aim is accurate historical record. The catalogue of knowledge will continually be updated as additions are made.

I wonder if pit trading signs will end up like semaphore, maritime signal flags, and morse code where only a few keep the language alive.