Abstract: A method of providing orders to a virtual trading crowd in an exchange prior to automatically linking the order to an away market is disclosed. The method may include receiving a marketable order for a security or derivative at the exchange, wherein the exchange has a price that differs from a national best bid or offer price, routing the marketable order to a trade engine, disseminating a request for price message to all market makers quoting a class in response to receiving the marketable order, the request for price message including a price equal to the national best bid or offer price, receiving a response message at the electronic trade engine in response to the request for price message from at least one market maker, initiating a quote trigger, wherein the quote trigger occurs for a period of N seconds, and allocating the order according to an allocation algorithm, wherein an order size of each market maker is capped to prevent inflation of an allocated portion of the order.

Abstract: A system and method of allocating orders in an exchange configured for trading by a combination of electronic and open-outcry trading mechanisms is provided. One method includes permitting multiple quotes to be disseminated to the market, and providing market making rights of varying degrees to entities having a physical presence on the floor of the exchange and entities remotely located away from the trading floor. The system includes a trade engine configured for receiving orders from market makers on and away from the trading floor. The system also includes executable instructions for allocating to designated primary market makers a portion of an incoming order remaining after first trading against public customer orders.

Abstract: A method of providing an automated auction for internalization for the purchase or sale of securities or derivatives in an exchange is disclosed. The method may include receiving an order at an electronic trade engine, disseminating a request for price message to at least one user in response to receiving the order, receiving a one-sided response message representative of a participant-type in response to the request for price message, selecting an allocation algorithm from a plurality of allocation algorithms, initiating the selected allocation algorithm and allocating the order according to the participant-type upon termination of the selected auction. The system may include an electronic trading engine configured to disseminate an auction message in response to an order, a database of allocation algorithms, and a trade processor for initiating an auction according the one of the allocation algorithms and terminating the auction upon defined early termination events.