User Interface for an Electronic Trading System

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.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method comprising:
 receiving, via an electronic processor of a computing device, market information identifying an item, the market information identifying updates for a highest outstanding bid value for the item and for a lowest outstanding offer value for the item;   displaying, via an electronic display of the computing device, a plurality of periodic graduations for the item, each periodic graduation of the plurality of periodic graduations having value for the item and being displayed along a value axis according to the market information;   displaying, via the electronic display of the computing device, a highest outstanding bid indicator along the value axis, the highest outstanding bid indicator being displayed relative to the plurality of periodic graduations according to the highest outstanding bid value for the item and being updateable according to the received market information;   displaying, via the electronic display of the computing device, a lowest outstanding offer indicator along the value axis, the lowest outstanding offer indicator being displayed relative to the plurality of periodic graduations according to the lowest outstanding offer value for the item and being updateable according to the received market information;   receiving, via a user-input input device of the computing device, a first user command to select a specific value of the plurality of periodic graduations according to manipulating a cursor displayed by the electronic display relative to a specific periodic graduation of the plurality of periodic graduations for the specific value; and   initiating, via the computing device, submission of an order for a predetermined quantity of the item at the specific value.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising displaying, via the electronic display, a time axis substantially orthogonal to the value axis, the time axis having a plurality of periodic graduations of time values, where the value axis and the time axis define a chart area. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  further comprising displaying, via the electronic display, historical data for the item relative to the chart area, the historical data representing historical values for the item. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising:
 receiving, via the computing device, updates for the historical data; and 
 updating, via the electronic display, the display of the historical data according to the received updates for the historical data. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  where the first user command is received relative to the chart area. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2  where each periodic graduation of the plurality of periodic graduations comprises a selectable location configured to receive a user command to submit an order to trade the item. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising displaying, via the electronic display, a user order indicator relative to the specific period graduation. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  where the user order indicator is displayed in response to receiving the first user command. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising displaying a plurality of order indicators along the value axis, where each order indicator represents at least one outstanding order. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  where the user order indicator is displayed distinguishable from order indicators representing orders other than the user's order. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10  where each order indicator of the plurality of order indicators is displayed relative to the plurality of periodic graduations according to a price for the at least one outstanding order represented by the indicator. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 2  where the highest outstanding bid indicator represents a quantity for the highest outstanding bid and the lowest outstanding offer indicator represents for the lowest outstanding offer. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 2  where the value for each periodic graduation of the plurality of periodic graduations comprises any one of price, interest rate, implied interest, volatility, implied volatility, difference between prices, and yield. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising receiving, via the computing device, a second user command to set the predetermined quantity of the item prior to the first user command. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising, displaying, via the electronic display, at least one order token representing an order quantity. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  where the first user command comprises a user selection of the at least one order token and associating the at least one order token with the specific periodic graduation of the plurality of periodic graduations. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17  where associating the at least one order token comprises any one of moving the at least one order token to the specific periodic graduation of the plurality of periodic graduations, dragging the at least one order token to the specific periodic graduation of the plurality of periodic graduations, and selecting specific periodic graduation of the plurality of periodic graduations subsequent to the user selection of the at least one order token. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16  where a size of the at least one order token is user adjustable and represents the predetermined quantity. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 2  where initiating comprises generating an order confirmation window for confirming submission of the first order, the order confirmation window being populated with the predetermined quantity and the specific value. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20  further comprising:
 detecting, via the computing device, a second user command received via the order confirmation window; and 
 submitting, via the computing device, the order for the predetermined quantity of the item at the specific value in response to detecting the second user command.