A method of displaying, buying, and trading electronic trading cards on a computer or handheld electronic device by running an electronic trading card application on the computer or handheld device that communicates via the internet with at least one remote server containing a registry of all electronic trading cards. The electronic trading card application running on the computer or handheld device transmits a transaction request to the at least one remote server to execute a purchase or trade between two users of one or more electronic trading cards. The electronic trading card application further displays various components of an electronic trading card based upon user inputs.