Abstract: The present invention is directed to a system for the electronic negotiation and execution of block-size trades in financial instruments on behalf of institutional investors, and in particular, a system and method for the anonymous negotiation and execution of equity block trades for institutional investors based on trading information entered into the system by one or more broker participants who serve as intermediaries for any resulting transactions. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method for trading financial instruments includes receiving trade alerts, evaluating the trade alerts for possible trading opportunities, receiving approvals to proceed with one of the trading opportunities, and executing orders generated by the approvals.