from what I understand, before, alot of locals, even bigger guys didn't really have to get a seat if they weren't trading the volume. ED guys had to no matter what. Cause they were scalping and spreading and cars add up
The pit still trades 35-40k contracts per day. In itself that's good volume. In fact after ED the S&P is still the second most actively traded open outcry contract at the CME. Of course ES is one of the few electronic contracts that doesn't have identical specs as the pit version. (NQ also). And yea, the fact that the pit trades in dimes is the reason for open outcry's continued viability in this particular product....
Heard it from a cattle trader; that the traders on floor feel the pit trade is still lucrative. Traders on the floor have a tendency to move from pit to pit, depending on where the trade is, and S&P pit is in the route.
At the current rate of Daily volume decline since the introduction of the E-mini and since the emini order limit was raised to 1500 contracts, I predict the SP will be gone early in the next decade. Bear in mind that the CME is now a "business." All publically traded and what not. So the profit motive dictates that whatever is not efficient must be cut. And it perceivably seems that the pit is more expensive to run than Globex.
That is basically the point that I am making and the chart that I created and extrapolated forward shows that the SP pit contract will stop trading a lot earlier than people on this poll have voted.