Abstract: The invention claims a new method of generating financial trading alerts, improved buying and selling decisions, and financial controls using cellular automata. An array known as a Virtual Trading Neighborhood (“VTN”) is comprised of cells that comprise financial data received from active traders including intentions to buy and sell and also actual buy and selling actions. The VTN further comprises a cellular automata cell that is programmed with preselected rules. The cellular automata cell generates an output based on the prior trading actions of the surrounding neighbor cells of the VTN. The resulting buy or sell trading alerts are provided to authorized users to manage financial trading risks and increase profits.