seat investment & finance definition

A membership on a stock or futures exchange that traders can buy and sell. The prices of seats are determined by market forces. The term seat derives its name from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where, in the early years of its existence, members sat in assigned seats during the roll call of stocks. However, that literal meaning became moot when continuous trading began in 1971. As of this printing, the record sale for a seat on the NYSE is $2.65 million in August 1999.