NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - New York Stock Exchange members approved a deal to buy electronic trading firm Archipelago Holdings this week, turning the Big Board into a for-profit, publicly traded company. And that could ultimately mean lower costs and more opportunities for investors.

"My sense is that it's a plus for the individual investor," said Ted Weisberg, president of Seaport Securities, and a floor trader and member of the exchange for 36 years. "As far as I understand it, the intention is that the combined entity going forward should give investors more choices."

The $9 billion deal forms a new company called NYSE Group Inc. consisting of the NYSE and Archipelago. It will begin trading under the ticker "NYX" starting one session after the completion of the deal in late January -- pending Securities and Exchange Commission approval.

The deal was made in large part to position the 213-year old exchange to better compete with electronic rivals, such as the Nasdaq.

While the NYSE is the biggest exchange in the world, it doesn't offer as many stocks or products as the Nasdaq. The deal should enable it to compete better than it has previously in terms of volume, stock options, exchange traded funds and other factors, such as trading Nasdaq stocks.

Although the change coming in January will likely be pretty seamless, longer term "it should make the NYSE more competitive, which is good for investors," said Jon Burnham, portfolio manager at Burnham Securities.

That's because over time, increased competition between the NYSE and its rival, Nasdaq, could lead to lower transaction costs for investors. After the NYSE announced last spring that it was buying Archipelago, the Nasdaq announced that it was buying electronic trading firm Instinet Group (up $0.01 to $5.09, Research).

"The two deals should eventually cut costs for the consumer as it becomes an order flow or share count game between the two big dogs," said Stefan Lumiere, an analyst at brokerage Oscar Gruss & Son who covers Instinet.

In addition, the new deal presents another opportunity for individuals and funds to invest in a publicly-traded exchange that will likely do well, said Tim Heekin, head of stock trading at Thomas Weisel Partners.

"When you look at the Nasdaq Stock Market (Research), the Australian Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange and others, they've done really well," Heekin said.

Tina Larsson, co-manager of the Kinetics Small Cap Opportunities Fund, said that she expects the stock to do well in the year ahead. Her firm owns shares of Archipelago, as well as about a dozen other stock exchanges.

In terms of the day-to-day impact of the NYSE deal, stocks will continue to trade on the floor of the exchange, as well as on Archipelago and other electronic systems. Although the NYSE is buying an electronic program, that doesn't mean there won't be floor traders or the open-outcry auction systems they use.

However, it does raise some questions about how the role of floor traders may change.

"There are people who present plausible arguments that in theory support alternative forms of trading as opposed to physical trading on the floor," said Seaport's Weisberg.

"As to whether the naysayers are going to be right going forward, well, who knows," he said. "I'm going to keep coming here until they don't let me come anymore."