Online commodities trading system with anonymous counter bid/offer function
First Claim
1. An online trading system comprising:
- (a) a Bid/Offer input interface for allowing a user to enter terms in a predetermined set of fields for a bid or offer and to submit the bid or offer for posting in the system anonymously without identification of the submitter;
(b) a Trading Summary interface operable by users for displaying an anonymous postings of bids and offers submitted to the system, and for identifying a match of a bid and a counterpart offer with respect to the terms in the predetermined set of fields of each counterpart;
(c) a Bid/Offer database for storing and retrieving data records of bids and offers submitted to the system; and
(d) a Counter Bid/Offer interface operable by a user to select a pending bid or offer displayed on a display of the Trading Summary interface, to retrieve the corresponding data record from the Bid/Offer database and display the terms existing in the predetermined set of fields without identification of the submitter, and then to counter or modify one or more terms and submit the countered or modified bid or offer as a new posting in the system without identification of the submitter, whereby users of the system can remain anonymous while engaging in countering or modifying an original bid or offer as a new posting in the system in order to move progressively toward a match of terms in the predetermined set of fields.
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Abstract
An online trading system includes: a Bid/Offer input interface for allowing users to enter the terms of bids or offers for posting in the system anonymously without identification of the submitter; a Trading Summary interface operable by users for displaying an anonymous postings of bids and offers and for identifying a match of a bid and a counterpart offer; a Bid/Offer database for storing and retrieving data records of bids and offers submitted to the system; and a Counter Bid/Offer interface for allowing a user to retrieve the data record for a selected bid or offer and change or modify one or more terms thereof and submit the countered or modified bid or offer as a new posting in the system without identification of the submitter. The system allows users to remain anonymous while engaging in fine-tuned “negotiation” on terms through the countering procedure. The system is especially useful for trading in commodities contracts which have a large number of predetermined terms for a contract. When a transaction is closed, the system automatically notifies the parties and generates a final contract for them.
70 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An online trading system comprising:
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(a) a Bid/Offer input interface for allowing a user to enter terms in a predetermined set of fields for a bid or offer and to submit the bid or offer for posting in the system anonymously without identification of the submitter;
(b) a Trading Summary interface operable by users for displaying an anonymous postings of bids and offers submitted to the system, and for identifying a match of a bid and a counterpart offer with respect to the terms in the predetermined set of fields of each counterpart;
(c) a Bid/Offer database for storing and retrieving data records of bids and offers submitted to the system; and
(d) a Counter Bid/Offer interface operable by a user to select a pending bid or offer displayed on a display of the Trading Summary interface, to retrieve the corresponding data record from the Bid/Offer database and display the terms existing in the predetermined set of fields without identification of the submitter, and then to counter or modify one or more terms and submit the countered or modified bid or offer as a new posting in the system without identification of the submitter, whereby users of the system can remain anonymous while engaging in countering or modifying an original bid or offer as a new posting in the system in order to move progressively toward a match of terms in the predetermined set of fields. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20)
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19. A method of conducting online trading comprising:
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(a) allowing a user to access an online trading system and enter terms in a predetermined set of fields for a bid or offer and to submit the bid or offer for posting in the system anonymously without identification of the submitter;
(b) displaying an anonymous postings of bids and offers submitted to the system, and identifying a match of a bid and a counterpart offer with respect to the terms in the predetermined set of fields in each counterpart;
(c) storing data records of the bids and offers submitted to the system;
(c) retrieving the data record of a bid or offer selected by a user and providing a display of the terms existing in the predetermined set of fields for the bid or offer without identification of the submitter, and allowing the user to change or modify one or more terms and submit the countered or modified bid or offer as a new posting in the system without identification of the submitter, whereby users of the system can remain anonymous while engaging in countering or modifying an original bid or offer as a new posting in the system in order to move progressively toward a match of terms in the predetermined set of fields.
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Specification