When we developed the software we made sure not to lose sight of the following design principles and goals:

Reliability - A trading system needs to be reliable. Our software was developed using the Java programming language. As a trader you might not be interested in technical details, but after using our software for a while you will notice that sudden program crashes are a thing of the past. This is largely due to the use of Java. It allows our programmers to write highly reliable code.

Speed - A trading system has to be fast. In the past Java has had a reputation of being slow, but in the last couple of years highly sophisticated Just-In-Time compilers like Sun’s Hotspot have made Java programs as fast as ‘conventional’ programs.

Simplicity - Ease of use - We wanted to develop an application that was simple and consistent. You will find that user interface features work the same in every window. We avoid the use of buttons wherever possible, as they tend to add clutter to the screen and distract from important information.

Safety - In electronic trading errors can be costly. We have therefore added lots of safety nets to the trading system. The system can monitor trader input and perform several reality checks. For many parameters (like trade size, trade price, delta etc) you can set two types of limits: If the first limit is exceeded the program asks the trader for confirmation. If the second limit is exceeded the program will reject the trade. Some of those parameters can be changed by the trader, others may require a (risk manager) password before a limit can be changed.