Abstract: In at one aspect, the invention comprises an interactive software toolkit for creating custom trading strategies. Traders are provided with the ability to easily construct hybrid strategies using automated trading and event building blocks: (a) trading algorithms (for example, so-called “percentage of volume” algorithms and algorithms designed to minimize the difference between average executed price and standardized benchmarks such as volume-weighted average price (“VWAP”)); (b) intelligent “sweeps” (automated trading actions designed to rapidly execute a specified number of shares); and (c) event triggers (time-, price-, spread-, depth-based, or based on other real-time market data or on current order status). Traders can create and store a set of custom strategies tailored to specific order types or trading styles.