KGB,
The floor pays albeit not all that well compared to the
stress and the "chores" you may have to endure.
I spent 2 years trading Midam, IDEM, OPT in this order.
Yes, I find what I learned there was interesting but not
that relavant to EDAT level 2 know-how or trading succesfully. Yes there are some overlaps. The membership is falling so is the price.
The reason is the computers made headway even the stoggiest
of the institunion - the CBOT. Having a backer is no
different than trading on a credit card at home. There are
ties. Also you may try some deal like the firms will have
trader (usually options) to to delta neutral trading for
%50 with their money. (I think this is different than a
*backer*. If I was forced to live in Chicago again

I would only trade upstairs. I found that I learned nothing
from the folks down there. They all want to buy on a bid
and sell on the offer,<b>except there are not enough orders
to go around</b>.(if you trade small lots) you better off doing this type of a thing on the Globex, or NYSE stocks. You'll never learn if a big seller is Merill or who because it so noisy confusing and the actions are always obfuscated and masked. I thought I would have some "intelligence" from being down there - I found none,(may be it was me.....)