That may help explain the heavy trading volume and violent price swings that shook Chicago's futures pits in the last two days.

The futures pits are both durable and adaptable.

Dual trading is a common practice in futures pits because it is believed to help increase volume.

Chicago's financial futures pits, where stock index futures are traded, were rocked today by the same sort of pandemonium that erupted on Wall Street.

Farmers have complained for generations that the gamblers in the futures pits determine the prices they receive when they sell their crops and livestock.

Nobody in the futures pits would be willing to buy contracts that the funds would keep selling, driving the prices ever downward.

A sting operation in the futures pits by the Federal Bureau of Investigation produced 46 indictments against traders earlier this year.

By late 1986, the futures pits in Chicago had become among the most important financial centers in the world.

Trading was halted for less than an hour in some financial futures pits.

These concerns, in turn, spilled over into the stock market and the futures pits.