An individual or firm's right to
trade on an
exchange floor. Seats are bought and sold according to an individual's or firm's needs and desires, and they can be very
expensive. Most
exchanges have a set number of seats; for example, on the
New York Stock Exchange there are 1366 seats, which may cost up to $1 million each. Most exchanges only recognize individual members;
member firms are usually informal terms for
broker-dealer firms that have at least one principal officer with a seat on an exchange. A seat is also called a membership.