Trading engine

In finance, an electronic trading platform also known as an online trading platform or electronic trading exchange, is a computer system running a software program that can be used to place orders, store trading data and information pertaining to traded products, authenticate users and perform other operations of a trading exchange operating in electronic domain. Various financial products can be traded by the trading platform, over a communication network with a financial intermediary or directly between the participants or members of the trading platform. This includes products such as , bonds, currencies, commodities, derivatives and others, with a financial intermediary, such as brokers, market makers, Investment banks or . Such platforms allow electronic trading to be carried out by users from any location and are in contrast to traditional floor trading using open outcry and telephone based trading. Sometimes the term trading platform is also used in reference to the trading software alone.

Electronic trading platforms typically stream live market prices on which users can trade and may provide additional trading tools, such as charting packages, news feeds and account management functions. Some platforms have been specifically designed to allow individuals to gain access to financial markets that could formerly only be accessed by specialist trading firms such as those allowing margin trading on forex and derivatives such as contract for difference. They may also be designed to automatically trade specific strategies based on technical analysis or to do high-frequency trading.

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Wikipedia