Once the public face of a rich daily trade in thousands of barrels of oil, London's open outcry dealers have abandoned their bright blazers and frantic hand signals but are still cashing in on a hot commodity.
London's International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) closed its open outcry pit last April, ending nearly 25 years of shouting and semaphore-like signalling to snare the best price, in favour of all-electronic dealing.
Traders, known as locals who trade on their own account rather than for a company, appeared to be out of a job.
But after early protests, many are converts to the efficiency of screen trading and some have regrouped in arcades - space rented to self-employed dealers. They still trade together but using screens rather than open outcry.
One of an estimated 20 arcades in London is CFT Financials, based in London's financial district.
It has taken a lead on others by recruiting two highly respected traders - Dave Smith, said to be Britain's biggest local oil trader, and Andy Priston, regarded as the biggest independent dealer in all commodities and someone who, CFT says, can rack up more than 100,000 lots of trade in a day.
Nicknamed "Braveheart" because of his fearlessness, Mr Priston was number 30 on the London Sunday Times 2005 young rich list, aged just 28, and heads a branch of CFT in Montreal, Canada.
"The closure of the floor was an opportunity," said CFT director Richard Sharpe.
Oil prices surged to a record last year and remain strong on concerns about limited spare capacity and supply disruption.
"The oil market has been very volatile. It used to move 30, 40 cents in a day, now $2 moves can be the norm," said Mr Sharpe.
"It's very scary. It's about risks and rewards."
CFT plans to open branches in Japan, Hong Kong and Russia, but Mr Sharpe would not disclose the company's financial details.
It has some 30 traders in London - and Mr Sharpe said these new independents were far removed from the traditional barrow boy image of traders as aggressive, street-wise youngsters fuelled by a winner-takes-all need to make money.
Some of the new traders have come straight from university rather than learning the job on the floor, and are capitalising on screen trading to access a wide range of commodities.
"There is a new breed of traders. Some are young lads but they know the markets," Mr Sharpe said.
A fellow director at CFT is Nick Cella, a 20-something rising star, who said the firm sought to nurture contacts. "A lot of the houses are churn-and-burn mentality. They have a massive turnover, but we're concentrating on building a relationship," he said.
The traders' ability to adapt to their electronic environment has surprised many, not least New York rivals who have been holding out in favour of pit trading despite the move by IPE, owned by Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).
Supporters of the pit say its human element is crucial to successful oil dealing.
In an attempt to capitalise on the initial opposition to the London closure, the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the world's largest energy exchange, set up its own open outcry floor in the British city last September to trade North Sea Brent crude, the main London oil futures contract.
But after good volumes at first, trade on the NYMEX Brent pit has dwindled to a trickle, and electronic converts predict New York will sooner or later follow the trend.
"It's inevitable NYMEX will go electronic. It's so efficient," Mr Sharpe said.
One problem is the dominance on NYMEX of local traders, whose jobs would be threatened. But they can take comfort from their London peers who have proved there is life beyond the pit.