Matching engine

The matching engine is the exchange system that pairs incoming orders with resting orders according to published priority rules, usually price first and then time.

market microstructure · updated 2026-09-08

See also

• Order book — The order book is the live list of all outstanding buy and sell orders for an instrument, arranged by price, that a trading venue …
• Price-time priority — Price-time priority is the standard matching rule: better prices execute first, and among equal prices the order that arrived firs…

Terms that refer here

Market microstructure · Price-time priority

Back to the full glossary — 261 defined terms.