System for conducting and processing spot commodity transactions
First Claim
1. A data processing system for executing and characterizing trades among subscribers of specific ones of a selected group of commodities, said system comprising a group of trading stations including at least one trading station for each subscriber, each trading station being electronically coupled to said system to form a network, each of said trading stations comprising:
- a. visual display means and input means for selection of certain fields from among an array of displayed fields including numerical data fields, to permit a trader to operate said system;
b. communication initiation means initiate a communication link with a counterparty trading station of a selected subscriber in said network;
c. first transmission means for transmitting from the initiating trading station a trading quotation request signal to said counterparty trading station, said quotation request signal comprising a commodity identification selected by the initiating trader, and an optional transactional volume amount which the initiating trader may select or elect not to transmit;
d. acceptance means permitting a counterparty to accept from an initiating trading station over said link said quotation request signal;
e. second transmission means for transmitting from said counterparty trading station to the initiating trading station selectively either a signal declining to quote or a quotation signal setting forth a bid price and an offer price for the identified commodity, and optionally a volume amount, said prices and volume amount being selected by the counterparty prior to transmission of said quotation signal;
f. first reception means for receiving from the counterparty trading station either said signal declining to quote, which reception automatically terminates the transaction, or a quotation signal from the counterparty trading station over said link;
g. third transmission means permitting only an initiating trading station that has received a quotation signal to transmit to the counterparty trading station over said link selectively, either a specific predetermined signal declining to make a proposal or a proposal signal proposing a trade in accordance with either the bid or offer term of said quotation signal for a volume amount selected by the initiating trading station prior to transmission of said proposal signal;
h. second reception means permitting said counterparty trading station to receive from the initiating trading station either said signal declining to propose or a proposal signal from the counterparty trading station over said link;
i. fourth transmission means permitting only a counterparty trading station that has received a proposal signal to transmit over said link a specific predetermined acceptance signal indicating acceptance of the proposal, said acceptance signal setting forth a volume amount for the transaction; and
j. acknowledgement means for automatically sending an acknowledgement signal to the counterparty trading station upon receipt of said acceptance at the initiating trading station, receipt of said acknowledgement signal by the counterparty trading station indicating that the initiating trading station has received said acceptance.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system is provided for processing spot trades in selected commodities among a group of trading stations in a communication network through a series of structured stages. Each trading station is capable of initiating a transaction with any other trading station in the network by transmitting a request for a quotation on a selected commodity. The receiving, or counterparty, trading station responds by transmitting a quotation back to the initiating trader, and the trader transmits a proposal based on this quotation. The counterparty then transmits an acceptance of the proposal and upon receipt of this acceptance by the initiating trader, a confirmation signal is automatically transmitted back to the counterparty and the deal is automatically logged at both sites. Alterations of transmitted quotations and proposals and extensive negotiation are also possible. At each stage of a transaction, the responses available to the initiating trader or counterparty are limited or structured such that only certain responses are transmitted so that trades progress within the structure of the invention. The structure of the invention greatly improves operator ability to transact numerous trades accurately and quickly in a format that is readily processed by digital computers.
-
Citations
15 Claims
-
1. A data processing system for executing and characterizing trades among subscribers of specific ones of a selected group of commodities, said system comprising a group of trading stations including at least one trading station for each subscriber, each trading station being electronically coupled to said system to form a network, each of said trading stations comprising:
-
a. visual display means and input means for selection of certain fields from among an array of displayed fields including numerical data fields, to permit a trader to operate said system; b. communication initiation means initiate a communication link with a counterparty trading station of a selected subscriber in said network; c. first transmission means for transmitting from the initiating trading station a trading quotation request signal to said counterparty trading station, said quotation request signal comprising a commodity identification selected by the initiating trader, and an optional transactional volume amount which the initiating trader may select or elect not to transmit; d. acceptance means permitting a counterparty to accept from an initiating trading station over said link said quotation request signal; e. second transmission means for transmitting from said counterparty trading station to the initiating trading station selectively either a signal declining to quote or a quotation signal setting forth a bid price and an offer price for the identified commodity, and optionally a volume amount, said prices and volume amount being selected by the counterparty prior to transmission of said quotation signal; f. first reception means for receiving from the counterparty trading station either said signal declining to quote, which reception automatically terminates the transaction, or a quotation signal from the counterparty trading station over said link; g. third transmission means permitting only an initiating trading station that has received a quotation signal to transmit to the counterparty trading station over said link selectively, either a specific predetermined signal declining to make a proposal or a proposal signal proposing a trade in accordance with either the bid or offer term of said quotation signal for a volume amount selected by the initiating trading station prior to transmission of said proposal signal; h. second reception means permitting said counterparty trading station to receive from the initiating trading station either said signal declining to propose or a proposal signal from the counterparty trading station over said link; i. fourth transmission means permitting only a counterparty trading station that has received a proposal signal to transmit over said link a specific predetermined acceptance signal indicating acceptance of the proposal, said acceptance signal setting forth a volume amount for the transaction; and j. acknowledgement means for automatically sending an acknowledgement signal to the counterparty trading station upon receipt of said acceptance at the initiating trading station, receipt of said acknowledgement signal by the counterparty trading station indicating that the initiating trading station has received said acceptance. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
- 9. A data processing system for executing and characterizing trades among subscribers of specific ones of a selected group of commodities, said system comprising a group of trading stations including at least one trading station for each subscriber, each trading station being electronically coupled to said system to form a network, said network transmitting data messages from a transmitting trading station to a receiving trading station to enable any two trading stations in said network to carry out a transaction in a series of transactional stages, said data messages containing one of a limited number of data message type identifiers, where at each particular stage of the transaction, a trading station is capable of selectively transmitting a data message containing one of only a subset of data message type identifiers, said subset not including every data message type identifier that the trading station is capable of transmitting in the course of an entire transaction, each stage of the transaction consequently having a corresponding subset of data message type identifiers which a trading station presently in that stage may transmit, where the transmission of a data message containing a data message type identifier causes the transmitting trading station to enter into another transactional stage, and the reception of the message containing said data message type identifier causes the receiving trading station to enter into another transactional stage.
-
14. A data processing system for executing and characterizing trades among subscribers of specific ones of a selected group of commodities, said system comprising a group of trading stations including at least one trading station for each subscriber, each trading station being electronically coupled to said system to form a network, said network transmitting data messages including at least one data field, from a transmitting trading station to a receiving trading station to enable any two trading stations in said network to carry out a transaction in a series of transactional stages, said system including a change alert subsystem, said change alert subsystem comprising:
-
signal processing means for scanning messages received at a trading station to determine if the message contains a specified data field; means for retrieving the contents of the specified data field if the message contains the specified data field; means for logically comparing the contents of the specified data field with the contents, if any, of a specified memory location in which the contents of a corresponding data field from a message that was previously sent from or received at said trading station during the transaction has been stored; and means for sounding an audible alarm if the contents of the specified data field differs from the contents, if any, of the specified memory location.
-
-
15. A data processing system for executing and characterizing trades among subscribers of specific ones of a selected group of commodities, said system comprising a group of trading stations including at least one trading station for each subscriber, each trading station being electronically coupled to said system to form a network, said network transmitting data messages including at least one data field, from a transmitting trading station to a receiving trading station to enable any two trading stations in said network to carry out a transaction in a series of transactional stages, said system including a change alert subsystem, said change alert subsystem comprising:
-
signal processing means for scanning messages received at a trading station to determine if the message contains a specified data field; means for retrieving the contents of the specified data field if the message contains the specified data field; means for logically comparing the contents of the specified data field with the contents, if any, of a specified memory location in which the contents of a corresponding data field from a message that was previously sent from or received at said trading station during the transaction has been stored; and means for displaying a visual change indication if the contents of the specified data field differs from the contents, if any, of the specified memory location.
-
Specification