Importance

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Abstract

A method for providing stock information to traders. Stock information is received that includes bid offers, ask offers, the size of the bid offers and the size of the ask offers and the identity of the market makers making each offer. In addition, trade information is received that includes the volume of each trade, the time of each trade, and the price of each trade. The stock information and trade information are displayed on a display screen. The display screen includes a display of bid/ask trade bars for a stock or each of selected number of stocks in which percentage of sales at bid prices and percentage of sales at ask prices are depicted. By considering the display screen, traders are better able to determine trading patterns of the market makers in those selected stocks and increase their probability of buying low and selling high. In a preferred embodiment, the bid/ask trade bars include the following information: the percentage of trades at the ask prices, the percentage of trades at the bid prices, the percentage of trades between the ask and the bid, the bid-to-ask ratio, the volume of trades over a given interval. In a preferred embodiment, the bid/ask bar information can be filtered to represent the trading activity of all of the agents or a specified group of market makers or ECNs. Also, in a preferred embodiment, the stock information and trade information are received at a web site, and the traders who view the display screen are online traders having access to the Internet.

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First Claim