Click based trading with intuitive grid display of market depth

• US 7,676,411 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2006
• Issued: 03/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Harris Brumfield As Trustee of The Ascent Trust
• Original Assignee: Trading Technologies International, Inc.
• Inventors: Schluetter, Jens-Uwe, Brumfield, Harris, Kemp, Gary Allan II
• Primary Examiner(s): WEISBERGER, RICHARD C
• Application Number:
  US11/585,907
• Publication Number:
  US 20070038556A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,231 Days
• Field of Search: 705 35- 45
• US Class Current: 705/35
• 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 method and system for reducing the time it takes for a trader to place a trade when electronically trading on an exchange, thus increasing the likelihood that the trader will have orders filled at desirable prices and quantities. The “Mercury” display and trading method of the present invention ensure fast and accurate execution of trades by displaying market depth on a vertical or horizontal plane, which fluctuates logically up or down, left or right across the plane as the market prices fluctuates. This allows the trader to trade quickly and efficiently.

Claims

1. A method of displaying market information relating to and facilitating trading of a commodity being traded on an electronic exchange, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, market information for a commodity from an electronic exchange, the market information comprising an inside market with a current highest bid price and a current lowest ask price;

displaying, via the computing device, a bid display region comprising a plurality of graphical locations, each graphical location in the bid display region corresponding to a different price level of a plurality of price levels along a price axis;

displaying, via the computing device, an ask display region comprising a plurality of graphical locations, each graphical location in the ask display region corresponding to a different price level of the plurality of price levels along the price axis;

dynamically displaying, via the computing device, a first indicator representing quantity associated with at least one trade order to buy the commodity at the current highest bid price in a first graphical location of the plurality of graphical locations in the bid display region, the first graphical location in the bid display region corresponding to a price level associated with the current highest bid price;

upon receipt of market information comprising a new highest bid price, moving the first indicator relative to the price axis to a second graphical location of the plurality of graphical locations in the bid display region, the second graphical location corresponding to a price level of the plurality of price levels associated with the new highest bid price, wherein the second graphical location is different from the first graphical location in the bid display region;

dynamically displaying, via the computing device, a second indicator representing quantity associated with at least one trade order to sell the commodity at the current lowest ask price in a first graphical location of the plurality of graphical locations in the ask display region, the first graphical location in the ask display region corresponding to a price level associated with the current lowest ask price;

upon receipt of market information comprising a new lowest ask price, moving the second indicator relative to the price axis to a second graphical location of the plurality of graphical locations in the ask display region, the second graphical location corresponding to a price level of the plurality of price levels associated with the new lowest ask price, wherein the second graphical location is different from the first graphical location in the ask display region;

displaying, via the computing device, an order entry region comprising a plurality of graphical areas for receiving single action commands to set trade order prices and send trade orders, each graphical area corresponding to a different price level along the price axis; and

selecting a particular graphical area in the order entry region through a single action of the user input device to both set a price for the trade order and send the trade order having a default quantity to the electronic exchange.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the order entry region further comprises:

a bid order entry region comprising a plurality of graphical areas for receiving single action commands to send trade orders to buy, each graphical area corresponding to a different price level of the plurality of price levels along the price axis; and

an ask order entry region comprising a plurality of graphical areas for receiving single action commands to send trade orders to sell, each graphical area corresponding to a different price level of the plurality of price levels along the price axis.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the single action further sets whether the trade order is an order to buy or sell the commodity.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the bid order entry region overlaps with the bid display region, and wherein the ask order entry region overlaps with the ask display region.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the overlapping of the bid order entry region with the bid display region allows the user to send trade orders to buy the commodity by positioning the curser over the first indicator and selecting a graphical area corresponding to the current highest bid price, and wherein overlapping of the ask order entry region with the ask display region allows the user to send trade orders to sell the commodity by positioning the cursor over the second indicator and selecting a graphical area corresponding to the current lowest ask price.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the trade order is an order to buy the commodity if the position of the cursor at the time of the single action is within a bid order entry region and wherein the trade order is an order to sell the commodity if the position of the cursor at the time of the single action is within an ask order entry region.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the default quantity is designated to be used for a single trade order.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the default quantity is designated to be used for a plurality of trade orders.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamically displaying an entered order indicator at a graphical location aligned with a price level of the plurality of price levels, wherein the entered order indicator represents a user'"'"'s trade order working at the price level aligned with the entered order indicator.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising canceling the user'"'"'s trade order represented by the entered order indicator in response to a single action of the user input device with the cursor of the user input device positioned over the entered order indicator.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a re-centering command to center the inside market in a window of a graphical user interface.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the bid display region, the ask display region, and the order entry region are displayed vertically or horizontally.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the bid and ask display regions are displayed separately.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of price levels are displayed along the price axis.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of price levels do not move except as a result of a manual repositioning command.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an input from a user that designates a default quantity to be used for a plurality of trade orders, and receiving a plurality of consecutive single action commands from a user input device, each single action command sending a trade order to the electronic exchange, each trade order having an order quantity based on the default quantity without the user designating the default quantity between the single action commands.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the plurality of trade orders comprises a combination of trade orders to buy and sell the commodity.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the single action of the user input device consists of a single click of the user input device.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the single action of the user input device consists of a double-click of the user input device.

20. The method of claim 2, wherein the single action of the user input device consists of a single click of the user input device.

21. The method of claim 2, wherein the single action of the user input device consists of a double-click of the user input device.

22. The method of claim 10, wherein the single action of the user input device to cancel the trade order consists of a single click of the user input device.

23. The method of claim 10, wherein the single action of the user input device to cancel the trade order consists of a double-click of the user input device.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the single action command consists of a single click of the user input device.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein the single action command consists of a double-click of the user input device.

26. A computer readable medium having stored therein instructions for execution by a computer to perform the following method steps:

receiving, by a computing device, market information for a commodity from an electronic exchange, the market information comprising an inside market with a current highest bid price and a current lowest ask price;

displaying, via the computing device, a bid display region comprising a plurality of graphical locations, each graphical location in the bid display region corresponding to a different price level of a plurality of price levels along a price axis;

displaying, via the computing device, an ask display region comprising a plurality of graphical locations, each graphical location in the ask display region corresponding to a different price level of the plurality of price levels along the price axis;

dynamically displaying, via the computing device, a first indicator representing quantity associated with at least one trade order to buy the commodity at the current highest bid price in a first graphical location of the plurality of graphical locations in the bid display region, the first graphical location in the bid display region corresponding to a price level associated with the current highest bid price;

upon receipt of market information comprising a new highest bid price, moving the first indicator relative to the price axis to a second graphical location of the plurality of graphical locations in the bid display region, the second graphical location corresponding to a price level of the plurality of price levels associated with the new highest bid price, wherein the second graphical location is different from the first graphical location in the bid display region;

dynamically displaying, via the computing device, a second indicator representing quantity associated with at least one trade order to sell the commodity at the current lowest ask price in a first graphical location of the plurality of graphical locations in the ask display region, the first graphical location in the ask display region corresponding to a price level associated with the current lowest ask price;

upon receipt of market information comprising a new lowest ask price, moving the second indicator relative to the price axis to a second graphical location of the plurality of graphical locations in the ask display region, the second graphical location corresponding to a price level of the plurality of price levels associated with the new lowest ask price, wherein the second graphical location is different from the first graphical location in the ask display region;

displaying, via the computing device, an order entry region comprising a plurality of graphical areas for receiving single action commands to set trade order prices and send trade orders, each graphical area corresponding to a different price level along the price axis; and

selecting a particular graphical area in the order entry region through a single action of the user input device to both set a price for the trade order and send the trade order having a default quantity to the electronic exchange.

27. The computer readable method of claim 26, wherein the single action of the user input device consists of a single click of the user input device.

28. The computer readable method of claim 26, wherein the single action of the user input device consists of a double-click of the user input device.