Auction for financially settled contracts
First Claim
1. A computer readable memory medium containing computer readable instructions that when executed by a computer perform the following steps for conducting an auction for a plurality of financially settled contracts:
- receiving by the computer a plurality of first participant bids from a first participant;
receiving by the computer a plurality of second participant bids from a second participant; and
simultaneously matching by the computer a batch of bids to create a plurality of awarded bids,wherein the batch of bids comprises the plurality of bids from all the participants,wherein each bid of the batch of bids relates to at least a portion of the plurality of financially settled contracts, and wherein the matching comprises matching at least one leg of at least one non-outright bid,wherein a non-outright bid is a bid for a position that does not have a one-to-one correlation to a contract, and has at least one of;
(i) multiple legs, where each leg represents a long or short position in a particular contract, and, (ii) one or more legs each representing a single position that is less than all of a contract;
wherein the non-outright bid comprises a price and an indication of each contract corresponding to a leg of the non-outright bid, the indication comprising, a quantity, a settlement period, and a contract code, and an indication of which leg or legs are short and which leg or legs are long, andwherein the matching does not match any of the legs of a non-outright bid unless it matches all of the legs of the non-outright bid, such that a participant making a non-outright bid has no risk that less than all of the non-outright bid will be awarded.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Various embodiments show a system for conducting an auction for a plurality of financially settled contracts: The system may comprise at least one processor. The at least one processor may be programmed to receive a plurality of first participant bids from a first participant and a plurality of second participant bids from a second participant. The at least one processor may also be programmed to match a batch of bids to create a plurality of awarded bids. The contracts may include, for example, an oil contract, a coal contract, a natural gas contract, an electricity contract, a weather contract, a weather-related events contract, a commodities contract, location specific service contracts (e.g., passenger contract and/or freight contracts).
26 Citations
52 Claims
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1. A computer readable memory medium containing computer readable instructions that when executed by a computer perform the following steps for conducting an auction for a plurality of financially settled contracts:
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receiving by the computer a plurality of first participant bids from a first participant; receiving by the computer a plurality of second participant bids from a second participant; and simultaneously matching by the computer a batch of bids to create a plurality of awarded bids, wherein the batch of bids comprises the plurality of bids from all the participants, wherein each bid of the batch of bids relates to at least a portion of the plurality of financially settled contracts, and wherein the matching comprises matching at least one leg of at least one non-outright bid, wherein a non-outright bid is a bid for a position that does not have a one-to-one correlation to a contract, and has at least one of;
(i) multiple legs, where each leg represents a long or short position in a particular contract, and, (ii) one or more legs each representing a single position that is less than all of a contract;wherein the non-outright bid comprises a price and an indication of each contract corresponding to a leg of the non-outright bid, the indication comprising, a quantity, a settlement period, and a contract code, and an indication of which leg or legs are short and which leg or legs are long, and wherein the matching does not match any of the legs of a non-outright bid unless it matches all of the legs of the non-outright bid, such that a participant making a non-outright bid has no risk that less than all of the non-outright bid will be awarded. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 51, 52)
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22. A method using a programmable device for conducting an auction for a plurality of financially settled contracts, the method comprising:
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receiving, by the programmable device, a plurality of first participant bids from a first participant; receiving, by the programmable device, a plurality of second participant bids from a second participant; and simultaneously matching a batch of bids by the programmable device to create a plurality of awarded bids, wherein the batch of bids comprises the plurality of bids from all the participants, wherein each bid of the batch of bids relates to at least a portion of the plurality of financially settled contracts, and wherein the matching comprises matching at least one leg of at least one non-outright bid, wherein a non-outright bid is a bid for a position that does not have a one-to-one correlation to a contract, and has at least one of;
(i) multiple legs, where each leg represents a long or short position in a particular contract, and, (ii) one or more legs each representing a single position that is less than all of a contract;wherein the non-outright bid comprises a price and an indication of each contract corresponding to a leg of the non-outright bid, the indication comprising, a quantity, a settlement period, and a contract code, and an indication of which leg or legs are short and which leg or legs are long, and wherein the matching does not match any of the legs of a non-outright bid unless it matches all of the legs of the non-outright bid, such that a participant making a non-outright bid has no risk that less than all of the non-outright bid will be awarded.
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23. A programmable apparatus with a trade platform for conducting an auction for a plurality of financially settled contracts, the trade platform comprising:
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a programmable processor with an auction engine configured to generate awarded bids by simultaneously matching bids selected from a batch of bids received from a plurality of participants, wherein each bid of the batch of bids relates to at least a portion of the plurality of financially settled contracts, wherein the matching comprises matching at least one leg of at least one non-outright bid selected from the batch of bids, wherein a non-outright bid is a bid for a position that does not have a one-to-one correlation to a contract, and has at least one of;
(i) multiple leas. where each leg represents a long or short position in a particular contract, and, (ii) one or more legs each representing a single position that is less than all of a contract;wherein the non-outright bid comprises a price and an indication of each contract corresponding to a leg of the non-outright bid, the indication comprising, a quantity, a settlement period, and a contract code, and an indication of which leg or legs are short and which leg or legs are long, and wherein the matching does not match any of the legs of a non-outright bid unless it matches all of the legs of the non-outright bid, such that a participant making a non-outright bid has no risk that less than all of the non-outright bid will be awarded. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A computer readable memory medium containing computer readable instructions that when executed by a computer perform the following steps for conducting an auction for a plurality of financially settled forward electricity contracts corresponding to a first spot market:
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receiving by the computer a plurality of first participant bids from a first participant; receiving by the computer a plurality of second participant bids from a second participant; and simultaneously matching by the computer a batch of bids to create a plurality of awarded bids, wherein the batch of bids comprises the plurality of bids from all the participants, wherein each bid of the batch of bids relates to at least a portion of the plurality of financially settled contracts, wherein the matching comprises matching at least one leg of at least one non-outright bid, wherein the plurality of financially settled forward electricity contracts comprises a plurality of nodal contracts, wherein a non-outright bid is a bid for a position that does not have a one-to-one correlation to a contract, and has at least one of;
(i) multiple legs, where each leg represents a long or short position in a particular contract, and, (ii) one or more legs each representing a single position that is less than all of a contract;wherein the non-outright bid comprises a price and an indication of each contract corresponding to a leg of the non-outright bid, the indication comprising, a quantity, a settlement period, and a contract code, and an indication of which leg or legs are short and which leg or legs are long, and wherein the matching does not match any of the legs of a non-outright bid unless it matches all of the legs of the non-outright bid, such that a participant making a non-outright bid has no risk that less than all of the non-outright bid will be awarded. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method using a programmable device for conducting an auction for a plurality of financially settled forward electricity contracts corresponding to a first spot market, the method comprising:
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receiving, by the programmable device, a plurality of first participant bids from a first participant; receiving, by the programmable device, a plurality of second participant bids from a second participant; and simultaneously matching a batch of bids by the programmable device to create a plurality of awarded bids, wherein the batch of bids comprises the plurality of bids from all the participants, wherein each bid of the batch of bids relates to at least a portion of the plurality of financially settled contracts, wherein the matching comprises matching at least one leg of at least one non-outright bid, wherein the plurality of financially settled forward electricity contracts comprises a plurality of nodal contracts, wherein a non-outright bid is a bid for a position that does not have a one-to-one correlation to a contract, and has at least one of;
(i) multiple legs, where each leg represents a long or short position in a particular contract, and, (ii) one or more legs each representing a single position that is less than all of a contract;wherein the non-outright bid comprises a price and an indication of each contract corresponding to a leg of the non-outright bid, the indication comprising, a quantity, a settlement period, and a contract code, and an indication of which leg or legs are short and which leg or legs are long, and wherein the matching does not match any of the legs of a non-outright bid unless it matches all of the legs of the non-outright bid, such that a participant making a non-outright bid has no risk that less than all of the non-outright bid will be awarded.
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42. A programmable apparatus with a trade platform for conducting an auction for a plurality of financially settled forward electricity contracts corresponding to a first spot market, the trade platform comprising:
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a programmable processor with an auction engine configured to generate awarded bids by simultaneously matching bids selected from a batch of bids received from a plurality of participants, wherein each bid selected from the batch of bids relates to at least a portion of the plurality of financially settled contracts, wherein the matching comprises matching at least one non-outright bid selected from the batch of bids, wherein the plurality of financially settled forward electricity contracts comprises a plurality of nodal contracts, wherein a non-outright bid is a bid for a position that does not have a one-to-one correlation to a contract, and has at least one of;
(i) multiple legs, where each leg represents a long or short position in a particular contract, and, (ii) one or more legs each representing a single position that is less than all of a contract;wherein the non-outright bid comprises a price and an indication of each contract corresponding to a leg of the non-outright bid, the indication comprising, a quantity, a settlement period, and a contract code, and an indication of which leg or legs are short and which leg or legs are long, and wherein the matching does not match any of the legs of a non-outright bid unless it matches all of the legs of the non-outright bid, such that a participant making a non-outright bid has no risk that less than all of the non-outright bid will be awarded. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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Specification