New York Stock Exchange seat prices sunk to a nine-year low of $1m (€755,000) on Thursday, sparking fears that investors are losing confidence in open outcry floor trading in the face of increasing competition from electronic rivals.

The value of a NYSE seat, which gives a firm a licence to trade on the NYSE's floor, hit a record high of $2.7m just two years ago, while the last time a seat fell below $1m was October 1995.