METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ORDER ENTRY IN AN ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM

Orders received by an electronic trading system are processed in batches based on the instrument to which an order relates. An incoming order is assigned to a queue of a queue set that makes up the batch according to a random process. Where orders are received from related trading parties they are assigned to the same queue set according to their time of receipt. The batch has a random duration within defined minimum and maximum durations and at the end of the batch, the orders held in the queues are transferred to a matching thread of the trading system sequentially with one order being removed from each queue and a number of passes of the queues completed until orders have been removed.