Compared with public bidding, electronic transactions have the following advantages:
1. The transaction speed is increased;
2. Reduce the transaction cost of market participants;
3. Break through the limitations of time and space. Increase trading varieties, expand market coverage, extend trading time, and make prices more continuous;
4. Make the transaction more fair. No matter whether market participants live in the same city or not, they can participate in the transaction in the same market as long as they pass the license;
5. It has high market transparency and low transaction error rate;
6. Partial replacement of trading halls and brokers.
At present, in global futures trading, there are two situations in which electronic trading is used:
First, it is used as the only bidding method for exchange contract transactions in daily transactions. The futures exchange in China adopts this method. Bermuda International Futures Exchange is an electronic futures exchange. After networking, computer terminals and exchange hosts all over the world can input the information of trading contracts into the host, and the host will automatically match the transactions. The settlement of the transaction is carried out by the British International Commodity Clearing House Limited. Some exchanges in western European countries also use this method as the only bidding method for this exchange.
On the other hand, in order to attract foreign traders, especially those in other time zones, electronic trading is added outside normal trading hours every afternoon, so that foreign traders can also buy and sell futures contracts on this exchange through electronic trading. For example, the Chicago Board of Trade has established an electronic trading system to attract traders from other regions to buy and sell contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade. Electronic trading has developed rapidly with the development of computer technology and internet technology. Now almost all exchanges have their own electronic trading platforms. The volume of electronic transactions is very large every year.