Apparatus and system for defining an automated spread trading parameter

• US 7,299,208 B1
• Filed: 04/05/2002
• Issued: 11/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC (Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Goldman Sachs & Company (Goldman Sachs Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Bailon, Leoncio H., Zhang, Chengteng
• Primary Examiner(s): Poinvil, Frantzy
• Application Number:
  US10/117,319
• Time in Patent Office: 2,055 Days
• Field of Search: 705 10- 42
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis

Abstract

According to one embodiment, an apparatus includes a communication device adapted to communicate with a trader device via a temporary communication channel (e.g., via a Web site). The apparatus may receive from the trader device a trading parameter for a pair of associated investments and store the parameter for subsequent use (e.g., to automatically generate orders in accordance with a spread trading strategy).

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor;

a communication device coupled to said processor and adapted to communicate with a trader device via a temporary computer communication channel; and

a storage device in communication with said processor and storing instructions adapted to be executed by said processor to;

receive via the communication device an indication of a first investment from said trader device;

receive via the communication device an indication of a second investment from the trader device;

store an association between the first investment and the second investment;

receive from the trader device a trading parameter to be associated with both the first and second investments, said receiving the trading parameter being performed via the communication device;

store the received trading parameter, in association with both the first and second investments, for use by an automated spread trading system;

retrieve the stored trading parameter; and

transmit the stored trading parameter, via the communication device, to the trader device for display to a trader.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said storage device further stores at least one of:

(i) a client database, (ii) a trader database, or (iii) a deal definition database.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said communication device is adapted to communicate with at least one of:

(i) the trader device, (ii) an order processing system, (iii) an automated spread trading system, (iv) a deal dictionary tool, (v) an automated trading strategy component, or (vi) a system risk control tool.

4. A method to facilitate spread trading, comprising:

receiving from a trader device an indication of a first investment;

receiving from the trader device an indication of a second investment;

storing an association between the first investment and the second investment;

receiving from the trader device a trading parameter to be associated with both the first and second investments, said receiving the trading parameter being performed via a temporary computer communication channel;

storing the received trading parameter, in association with both the first and second investments, for use by an automated spread trading system;

retrieving the stored trading parameter; and

transmitting the stored trading parameter, via the temporary computer communication channel, to the trader device for display to a trader.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the communication channel is associated with a Web site.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the trader device is associated with at least one of:

(i) the trader, or (ii) a client associated with a plurality of traders.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the automated spread trading system is associated with a risk arbitrage trading strategy.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first investment comprises an acquirer stock and the second investment comprises a target stock.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein at least one of the investments are associated with a plurality of investments.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the automated spread trading system is associated with a fixed income strategy.

11. The method of claim 4, wherein the trading parameter comprises at least one of:

(i) a trader identifier, (ii) a trader device identifier, (iii) a client identifier, or (iv) an account identifier.

12. The method of claim 4, wherein the trading parameter comprises at least one of:

(i) an investment identifier, (ii) a stock identifier, or (iii) a deal identifier.

13. The method of claim 4, wherein the trading parameter comprises at least one of:

(i) a service, or (ii) an exchange.

14. The method of claim 4, wherein the trading parameter comprises at least one of:

(i) a dividend value, (ii) a sell action, (iii) a round lot indication, or (iv) an order initiation indication.

15. The method of claim 4, wherein the trading parameter comprises at least one of:

(i) a lower limit, (ii) an upper limit, (iii) a ratio, or (iv) a cash value.

16. The method of claim 4, wherein the trading parameter comprises a strategy associated with the first and second investments.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the strategy comprises at least one of:

(i) a follow spread strategy, (ii) a distribution strategy, (iii) a dollar-to-dollar strategy, (iv) a share-to-share strategy, or (v) an order-for-order strategy.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the trading parameter comprises an authorization to automatically generate orders in accordance with the strategy.

19. The method of claim 4, wherein the trading parameter comprises at least one of:

(i) a date, (ii) a time, (iii) a duration, (iv) start information, (v) end information, or (vi) a communication address independent of the temporary computer communication channel.

20. The method of claim 4, wherein said storing comprises storing the information in association with at least one of:

(i) one of a plurality of traders, (ii) a client associated with a plurality of traders, or (iii) one of a plurality of accounts associated with a trader.

21. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving a trader identifier; and

verifying the trader identifier.

22. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining risk control information.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the risk control information comprises at least one of:

(i) a maximum share position for the pair of investments, (ii) a maximum dollar position for the pair of investments, (iii) a maximum share position for an account, (iv) a maximum dollar position for an account, (v) a maximum open order shares amount for the pair of investments, (vi) a maximum open dollar amount for the pair of investments, (vii) a maximum number of open orders for the pair of investments, (viii) a maximum open order shares amount for an account, (ix) a maximum open dollar amount for an account, (x) a maximum number of open orders for an account, or (xi) a range around market price.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein said determining is based on at least one of:

(i) trader information, or (ii) information received from an operator.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

storing the risk control information for use by the automated spread trading system.

26. The method of claim 4, wherein the trading parameter is still stored after a termination of the temporary computer communication channel.

27. The method of claim 4, wherein the temporary computer communication channel is associated with a Web site.

28. A computer-readable medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform a method to facilitate spread trading, said method comprising:

receiving from a trader device an indication of a first investment;

receiving from the trader device an indication of a second investment;

storing an association between the first investment and the second investment;

receiving from the trader device a trading parameter to be associated with both the first and second investments, said receiving the trading parameter being performed via a temporary computer communication channel;

storing the received trading parameter, in association with both the first and second investments, for use by an automated spread trading system;

retrieving the stored trading parameter; and

transmitting the stored trading parameter, via the temporary computer communication channel, to the trader device for display to a trader.

29. A method to facilitate spread trading, comprising:

receiving from a trader device an indication of a first investment;

receiving from the trader device an indication of a second investment;

storing an association between the first investment and the second investment;

receiving from the trader device a trading parameter to be associated with both the first and second investments, said receiving the trading parameter being performed via a computer communication channel potentially accessible by a plurality of unrelated trader devices;

storing the received trading parameter, in association with both the first and second investments, for use by an automated spread trading system;

retrieving the stored trading parameter; and

transmitting the stored trading parameter, via the temporary computer communication channel, to the trader device for display to a trader.

30. A method to facilitate spread trading, comprising:

receiving from a trader device an indication of a first investment;

receiving from the trader device an indication of a second investment;

storing an association between the first investment and the second investment;

receiving from the trader device a trading parameter to be associated with both the first and second investments, said receiving the trading parameter being performed via a public computer communication network;

storing the received trading parameter, in association with both the first and second investments, for use by an automated spread trading system;

retrieving the stored trading parameter; and

transmitting the stored trading parameter, via the temporary computer communication channel to the trader device for display to a trader.

31. A computer-implemented method to facilitate risk arbitrage trading, comprising:

receiving a trader identifier via a Web site;

verifying the trader identifier;

receiving via the Web site the following information;

an acquirer stock identifier,

a target stock identifier,

a selected risk arbitrage trading strategy, and

an authorization to automatically generate orders in accordance with the strategy;

storing the received acquirer stock identifier in association with the received target stock identifier;

storing the received selected risk arbitrage trading strategy, in association with both the received acquirer stock identifier and received target stock identifier, for use by an automated spread trading system;

retrieving the stored selected risk arbitrage trading strategy; and

transmitting an indication of the selected risk arbitrage trading strategy via a communication network to a device associated with the trader identifier.