Systems and methods for providing traders an opportunity to improve prices
for an item trading in an active market are provided. After a trader HITS
or LIFTS a bid or offer, a market becomes active. When the market is
active, traders can submit orders that improve on the price of the
current market price of an item. Whenever a price improvement order is
currently available for use in a transaction order, a price improvement
indicator is displayed to indicate to other traders that price
improvement is occurring. When a price improvement order is used to fill
a transaction order, a portion of the difference between the market price
and the price improvement price may be divided between the trader
associated with the price improvement order, the trader associated with
the transaction order, and the system host.