Electronic trade matching is a process whereby a computer system matches buy and sell orders for a security on a stock market

Stock market

A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...

 or commodities market. Electronic trade matching was introduced in the early 1990s in the United States to supplement open outcry

Open outcry

Open outcry is the name of a method of communication between professionals on a stock exchange or futures exchange. It involves shouting and the use of hand signals to transfer information primarily about buy and sell orders...

 trading. In modern trading, the trade matching system is part of a larger electronic trading

Electronic trading

Electronic trading, sometimes called etrading, is a method of trading securities , foreign exchange or financial derivatives electronically...

 system which also allows order entry at the user level and and order execution at the exchange level.

See also

• Open outcry
  Open outcry
  Open outcry is the name of a method of communication between professionals on a stock exchange or futures exchange. It involves shouting and the use of hand signals to transfer information primarily about buy and sell orders...
  
  
• Electronic communication network
  Electronic communication network
  An electronic communication network is the term used in financial circles for a type of computer system that facilitates trading of financial products outside of stock exchanges. The primary products that are traded on ECNs are stocks and currencies. The first ECN, Instinet, was created in 1969...
  
  
• Alternative Trading Systems
  Alternative Trading Systems
  Alternative Trading Systems , are United States Securities and Exchange Commission approved non-exchange trading venues specifically designed to match buyers and sellers to find counterparties for transactions, instead of trading large blocks of shares on the normal exchange, a practice that can...
  
  
• Multilateral Trading Facility
  Multilateral Trading Facility
  A Multilateral Trading Facility is a specific type of European financial trading system. The concept was introduced within the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive , a European financial law, and describes a trading venue that brings together buyers and sellers in a non-discretionary way...