The New York Stock Exchange has won approval to operate a system that combines traditional floor-trading with electronic options in a so-called hybrid market. Bloomberg News reports that the proposal from John Thain, CEO of the NYSE, was spurred by pressure from institutional investors wanting a trading system as fast as the NYSE's electronic counterparts, such as the Nasdaq. 

"We will better accommodate our customers' diverse trading strategies by giving them new choices in order execution to access" the NYSE's prices and market liquidity, Thain stated in a release. The new hybrid market is expected to launch some time this year as it folds its recently acquired Archipelago Holdings, which is all electronic, into its organization.