Patent ID: 8006183

Claim:
A method for using a cursor to convey information comprising: receiving by a computing device configuration data from a user, wherein the configuration data specifies data to be displayed; linking by the computing device data from a trading application to a cursor, wherein the cursor is displayed on a screen and movement of the cursor to a location on the screen is based on a command from a user input device, wherein the data to be linked is specified by the configuration data from the user; monitoring by the computing device the linked data to determine if the linked data has changed; updating by the computing device a visual representation of the linked data when the linked data changes; displaying by the computing device the visual representation of the linked data in relation to the cursor on the screen, wherein the linked data that is used to generate the visual representation is specified by the configuration data from the user and independent of the location where the cursor is moved on the screen; and receiving by the computing device a command moving the cursor from a first location to a second location, wherein the first location is in a first window associated with a first application, wherein the second location is in a second window associated with a second application, wherein the first application is different from the second application, wherein the first and second applications are different from the trading application, wherein the visual representation of the linked data is displayed without modification of the first application or the second application, wherein the visual representation of the linked data is displayed in relation to the cursor while the cursor is moved based on the command from the first location to the second location.