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tion to which those traders were entitled.
At various periods of time during the years 1965 through
1996, Mr. Gordon, acting as either a floor trader (i.e., one who
is, or is employed by, a member of a securities or commodities
exchange and who trades on the floor of such an exchange for his
or her own account or for the account of his or her employer) or
an upstairs trader (i.e., one who executes such trades off the
floor of such an exchange from his or her office) traded options
for his own account or for the accounts of the various firms that
employed him. An option is a contract under which (1) the buyer
or holder has the right, but not the obligation, for a specified
period of time to buy (i.e., call option) or sell (i.e., put
option) a specified portion of the underlying interest (e.g.,
stocks, bonds, or commodities) at a fixed or determinable price
and (2) the seller or writer is obligated to perform if the buyer
or holder exercises the option.
A trader on the floor of an exchange who buys and sells
options acts as either a market maker, a specialist, or a floor
broker. Such a trader who acts as a market maker (options market
maker) buys and sells options on the floor of an exchange either
for his or her own account or for the accounts of others, com-
petes with other options market makers to make a market in
various options that are traded on that exchange, is registered
with that exchange as a market maker in options, and is regis-
tered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a
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