1. A computer-implemented system for performing trading of financial instruments, the system comprising: an electronic spreadsheet application stored in a computer memory; a dynamic data exchange (DDE) interface coupled to the electronic spreadsheet application; and a financial instrument server coupled to the DDE interface and external pricing sources, wherein the financial instrument server receives real time updates from the external pricing sources for transmission through the DDE interface to the electronic spreadsheet application; the electronic spreadsheet application executed by a computer processor to automatically perform multiple steps including; storing an investment strategy encompassing multiple types of financial instruments; receiving the real time updates with respect to the multiple types of financial instruments from the financial instrument server through the DDE interface; applying the investment strategy to the real time updates to determine if an order should be generated for a selected one or more of the financial instruments; generating an order for the one or more selected financial instruments when the investment strategy indicates an order should be generated; transmitting the order through the DDE interface to the financial instrument server for execution; and updating the electronic spreadsheet application upon execution of the order.