ELECTRONIC TRADING DATA INTEGRATION AND PROTECTION SYSTEM

摘要

A trading system is disclosed which allows an exchange to protect market dat a from electronic reproduction by traders but allows the traders to use the market data (such as the last traded price, current resting bids and offers) to assist in making the trades. The system includes an exchange server havin g a database having market data relating to commodities traded over the exchange. A group of trader computers each having a display are coupled to t he exchange server. The trader computers have a trader interface run on the computer allowing each trader to place and accept orders for commodities traded over the exchange. The trader interface is capable of receiving marke t data from the exchange server. An external data source such as an Excel spreadsheet is stored on the trader computer having at least one data field. A trader module is coupled to the trader interface and external data source. T he trader module reads market data from the trader interface and the at least o ne data field of the external data source. The trader module displays the marke t data and the one data field on the display. The displayed data cannot be exported to the external data source but can be used to make trading decisio ns and manage orders.