The work reported here was conducted in the Penn Exchange Simulator (PXS), a novel stock-trading simulator that takes advantage of electronic crossing networks to realistically mix agent bids with bids from the real stock market [1]. In preparation for an open live competition, we developed three parameterizable trading agents and defined several instantiations of each strategy. We optimized each agent independently, and then conducted detailed controlled experiments to select the strongest of the three for entry in the live competition. It is important to realize from the outset that this research is primarily an agent study pertaining to the interactions of particular agents in a fixed economy. Although PXS.
