System and method for automated trade processing

An order management system and method are provided for automated management of the trading activity between a buy-side firm and sell-side firm. A trade rotation list is defined that governs trades. Items on the trade rotation list are defined by at least one characteristic that is used to match a trade by assigning a sequence number to that trade. An eligibility policy and a rotation method can be defined for each trade list. The rotation method rotates the sequence in which sponsors receive block trades, so that sponsors alternate the advantage of trading first. A trade route within an order management system comprises a trade context and an allocation context. One of the trade context or allocation context or both are referenced by metadata characteristics. If the trade route references a context by name, then the trade order is routed to the trade proxy associated with the context. If the trade route references the context by metadata, then the context to be used is determined by looking up metadata of a trade order using the metadata specified in the trade route and matching that to the metadata of the context.