User interface for an electronic trading system

• US 7,412,416 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2006
• Issued: 08/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Trading Technologies International, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Trading Technologies International, Inc.
• Inventors: Friesen, Richard W., Hart, Peter C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kramer; James A
• Assistant Examiner(s): BORLINGHAUS, JASON M
• Application Number:
  US11/417,522
• Publication Number:
  US 20060259405A1
• Time in Patent Office: 832 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

A user interface for an electronic trading exchange is provided which allows a remote trader to view in real time bid orders, offer orders, and trades for an item, and optionally one or more sources of contextual data. Individual traders place orders on remote client terminals, and this information is routed to a transaction server. The transaction server receives order information from the remote terminals, matches a bid for an item to an offer for an item responsive to the bid corresponding with the offer, and communicates outstanding bid and offer information, and additional information (such as trades and contextual data) back to the client terminals. Each client terminal displays all of the outstanding bids and offers for an item, allowing the trader to view trends in orders for an item. A priority view is provided in which orders are displayed as tokens at locations corresponding to the values of the orders. The size of the tokens reflects the quantity of the orders. An alternate view positions order icons at a location which reflects the value and quantity of the order. Additionally, contextual data for the item is also displayed to allow the trader to consider as much information as possible while making transaction decisions. A pit panel view is also provided in which traders connected to the pit are represented by icons, and are displayed corresponding to an activity level of the trader.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating trading and displaying information regarding the buying and selling of a good, the method comprising:

displaying a chart on a graphical user interface comprising a vertical axis of price values and a horizontal axis of time;

displaying indicators representing historical trading data for the good at locations along the vertical axis of price values and the horizontal axis of time;

providing a plurality of locations on the graphical user interface to place an order icon with a pointer of a user input device, each location corresponding to a particular price value along the vertical axis of price values;

placing an order icon for a particular quantity of the good at a specific location of the plurality of locations along the vertical axis of price values with a pointer of an input device, wherein the specific location on which the order icon is placed corresponds to a particular price value;

generating an order to buy or sell the particular quantity of the good at the particular price value responsive to placing the order icon at the specific location; and

sending the order to an electronic trading system, wherein the order is for the particular quantity of the good and at the particular price value determined based on the location where the order icon was placed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical trading data is of the good, another good, or a combination of goods.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying a bar line along the vertical axis of price values, the bar line indicating a high and a low price value for the good over a time period.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying a set of indicators representing a traded volume along the horizontal axis of time.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the horizontal axis of time has units according to an established time period.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical trading data comprises trade price data for the good over a period of time.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical trading data comprises average value data for the good over a period of time.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of displaying a marker that is representative of a value quantifying metric.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the value quantifying metric is a formula.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the good comprises a commodity.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the good comprises a stock.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of placing the order icon comprises dragging the order icon with the input device to the location along the vertical axis of price values.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic trading system comprises a matching process for matching orders of a bid type or an offer type.

23. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a command to modify the particular price value to a different price value after the steps of placing the order icon and generating the order;

sending the order to an electronic trading system, wherein the order is for the particular quantity of the good and at different price value determined based on the modification of the particular price value.

24. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a command to modify the particular quantity to a different quantity after the steps of placing the order icon and generating the order;

sending the order to an electronic trading system, wherein the order is for the different quantity of the good and at the particular price value determined based on the modification of the particular price value.

14. A computer readable medium, for an electronic exchange in which a good is bought and sold responsive to orders submitted by traders, each order specifying a value and quantity for the order, the computer readable medium containing a program containing instructions to cause a processor to perform the following steps:

displaying a chart on a graphical user interface comprising a vertical axis of price values and a horizontal axis of time;

displaying indicators representing historical trading data for the good at locations along the vertical axis of price values and the horizontal axis of time;

providing a plurality of locations on the graphical user interface to place an order icon with a pointer of a user input device, each location corresponding to a particular price value along the vertical axis of price values;

placing an order icon for a particular quantity of the good at a specific location of the plurality of locations along the vertical axis of price values with a pointer of an input device, wherein the specific location on which the order icon is placed corresponds to a particular price value;

generating an order to buy or sell the particular quantity of the good at the particular price value responsive to placing the order icon at the specific location; and

sending the order to an electronic trading system, wherein the order is for the particular quantity of the good and at the particular price value determined based on the location where the order icon was placed.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the historical trading data is of the good, another good, or a combination of goods.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 14, further comprising the step of displaying a bar line along the vertical axis of price values, the bar line indicating a high and a low price value for the good over a time period.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14, further comprising the step of displaying a set of indicators representing a traded volume along the horizontal axis of time.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the horizontal axis of time has units according to any time period.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the historical trading data comprises trade price data for the good over a period of time.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the historical trading data comprises average value data for the good over a period of time.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 14, further comprising the step of displaying a marker that is representative of a value quantifying metric.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the step of placing the order icon comprises dragging the order icon with an input device to the location along the vertical axis of price values.