A securities trading system utilizes distributed data processing effected by a central processing station and a plurality of processing consoles all tied to a common network. The central station includes several computation sequences that can be used to compute the autocorrelation distribution function of any one security price to predict the probable price variation increment within a contract consummation interval, the cross correlation between various securities to determine any pattern of offsetting trades, and a reconciliation sequence to effect the securities transactions within the price variation increment. The autocorrelation and cross correlation sequences can be transferred for processing in one of the consoles, thereby allowing for a distributed processing arrangement of a plurality of securities patterns, and the computation results can be displayed on the console monitor that is interested in the particular security. A price increment selected for a particular level of probability is included in each buy and sell offer and if the offers intersect a transaction is consummated. The ratios of the buy and sell increments are then used to distribute the price overlap.