A trading session consists of a sequence of trials, where each trial is divided into a number of periods. Each trial is an independent run of the trading case.

During a trading period, each trader can submit bids (offers to buy), asks (offers to sell), accept an existing bid (sell), and accept an existing ask (buy) on a security. In addition, traders must specify the quantities they wish to trade. Orders are processed on a first come first serve basis. A price is a number between 1 and 999.99 (sometimes between 1 and 99.99, depending on the case), while a quantity must be between 1 and 99.

The FTS markets are based on a limit order book, as follows.

The highest bid and the lowest ask are the current market; these are displayed to all traders. Lower bids and higher asks are kept in the book. The highest bid (lowest ask) is traded before any other bid (ask).

When a trader submits a bid/ask, it is entered into the book. The depth of the book is chosen at run-time by the instructor.

It is possible to control the trading rights for each trader in the market. As a result, you can restrict the group of traders who are market makers (i.e., allowed to submit bids and offers to the markets). This is specified in the istkop.xxx case file, where xxx is the case extension.