Systems and methods for improving the liquidity and distribution network for luxury and other illiquid items

• US 7,685,050 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2002
• Issued: 03/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BGC Partners Incorporated (BGC Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BGC Partners Incorporated (BGC Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Heaton, Timothy H, Lutnick, Howard W
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, JAGDISH
• Application Number:
  US10/281,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20030115131A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,703 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/16 Real estate

Abstract

Systems and methods for improving the liquidity and distribution network for luxury and other illiquid items are provided. These systems and methods preferably include the trading of futures and options contracts, which will provide the liquidity and distribution network for luxury items. Possible embodiments of these systems and methods include the trading of futures and options contracts for diamonds and wine. Another embodiment of this invention preferably includes generating indexes for diamond prices, wine prices, luxury item prices, housing values, mortgage prepayments, privately-held companies or for anything with from sufficiently liquid points of value. Another embodiment of this invention preferably includes a centralized data base for retrieving closing and current auction prices for determining the value of, and best method for the auctioning of various items. The data provided by this data base would improve liquidity by creating greater price transparency.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, from a communication network, first index configuration information from at least one user, the first index configuration information specifying a first region;

receiving, by the processor, from the communication network, second index configuration information from the at least one user, the second index configuration information specifying a second region, wherein the second region includes a subset of the first region;

after receiving the first information, electronically compiling, by the processor, first data that indicates a first respective value of each of a first plurality of instances of real estate located in the user-specified first region;

after receiving the second information, electronically compiling, by the processor, second data that indicates a second respective value of each of a second plurality of instances of real estate located in the user-specified second region;

determining, by the processor, a first value of a first user-configured index based on the first data associated with the user-specified first region and a second value of a second user-configured index based on the second data associated with the user-specified second region; and

transmitting, over the communication network, a representation of the first value of the first user-configured index and a representation of the second value of the second user-configured index to the at least one user.

2. The method of claim 1, in which receiving the first index configuration information from the at least one user comprises receiving the first index configuration information from a first user of the at least one user, and in which receiving the second information index configuration from the at least one user comprises receiving the second index configuration information from a second user of the at least one user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating for the at least one user, an option contract based on at least one of the first user-configured index and the second user-configured index.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising executing a trade of the option contract, the trade occurring between the at least one user and at least one other participant.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating for the at least one user, a futures contract based on at least one of the first user-configured index and the second user-configured index.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising executing a trade of the futures contract, the trade occurring between the at least one user and at least one other participant.

7. The method of claim 1, in which electronically compiling comprises electronically compiling from price surveys of real estate.

8. The method of claim 1, in which electronically compiling further comprises electronically sorting the first and second data based on at least one criterion.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first index configuration information includes information that states the first region in detail, and the second index configuration information includes information that states the second region in detail.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving new data that indicates a respective value of at least one new instance of real estate located in the at least one of the first user-specified region and the second user-specified region;

and electronically updating at least one of the first user-configured index and the second user-configured index in response to the new data.

11. A system comprising a processor and memory having at least one program associated therewith that when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:

receive, from a communication network, first index configuration information from at least one user, the first index configuration information specifying a first region;

receive, from the communication network, second index configuration information from the at least one user, the second index configuration information specifying a second region, wherein the second region includes a subset of the first region;

after receiving the first information, electronically compile first data that indicates a respective value of each of a first plurality of instances of real estate located in the specified first region;

after receiving the second information, electronically compile second data that indicates a respective value of each of a second plurality of instances of real estate located in the specified second region;

determine a first value of a first user-configured index based on the first data associated with the user-specified first region and a second value of a second user-configured index based on the second data associated with the user-specified second region; and

transmit, over the communication network, a representation of the first value of the first user-configured index and a representation of the second value of the second user-configured index to the at least one user.

12. The system of claim 11, in which receiving the first index configuration information from the at least one user comprises receiving the first index configuration information from a first user of the at least one user, and in which receiving the second index configuration information from the at least one user comprises receiving the second index configuration information from a second user of the at least one user.

13. The system of claim 11, in which the method further comprises creating for the at least one user, an option contract based on at least one of the first user-configured index and the second user-configured index.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising executing a trade of the option contract, the trade occurring between the at least one user and at least one other participant.

15. The system of claim 11, in which the method further comprises creating for the at least one user, a futures contract based on at least one of the first user-configured index and the second user-configured index.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising executing a trade of the futures contract, the trade occurring between the at least one user and at least one other participant.

17. The system of claim 11, in which electronically compiling comprises electronically compiling from price surveys of real estate.

18. The system of claim 11, in which electronically compiling comprises electronically sorting the first and second data based on at least one criterion.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the first index configuration information includes information that states the first region in detail, and the second index configuration information includes information that states the second region in detail.

20. The system of claim 11, in which the method further comprises receiving new data that indicates a respective value of a new instance of real estate located in the at least one of the first user-specified region and the second user-specified region;

and electronically updating at least one of the first user-configured index and the second user-configured index in response to the new data.

21. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, from a communication network, first index configuration information from at least one user, the first index configuration information specifying a first region;

receiving, by the processor, from the communication network, second index configuration information from the at least one user, the second index configuration information specifying a second region, wherein the second region includes a subset of the first region;

after receiving the first index configuration information, determining, by the processor, a first value of a first user-configured index based on a plurality of values of real estate associated with the first user-specified region;

after receiving the second index configuration information, determining, by the processor, a second value of a second user-configured index based on a plurality of values of real estate associated with the second user-specified region;

electronically updating at least one of the user-configured first index and the user-configured second index in response to new data; and

transmitting a representation of the first value of the first user-configured index and a representation of the second value of the second user-configured index to the at least one user.

22. The method of claim 21, in which at least one of the user-configured first index and the user-configured second index is specific to a class of real estate.

23. The method of claim 21 in which at least one of the user-configured first index and the user-configured second index is specific to a kind of real estate.

24. The method of claim 21, in which at least one of the user-configured first index and the user-configured second index is specific to a size of real estate.

25. The method of claim 21, in which the new data is captured at a pre-determined time interval.

26. The method of claim 21, comprising capturing the new data from surveys of real estate.

27. The method of claim 21, comprising settling for the at least one user, at least one trade for at least one futures contract on at least one of the first user-configured index and the second user-configured index.

28. The method of claim 21, comprising settling for the at least one user, at least one trade for at least one option contract on at least one of the first user-configured index and the second user-configured index.

29. The system of claim 21, in which at least one of the first user-configured index and the second user configured index is a statistical composite of real estate data.

30. A system comprising a processor and memory having at least one program associated therewith that when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:

receive, from a communication network, first index configuration information from at least one user, the first index configuration information specifying a first region;

receive, from the communication network, second index configuration information from the at least one user, the second index configuration information specifying a second region, wherein the second region includes a subset of the first region;

after receiving the first index configuration information, determine a first value of a first user-configured index based on a plurality of values of real estate associated with the first user-specified region

after receiving the second index configuration information, determine a second value of a second user-configured index based a plurality of values of real estate associated with on the second user-specified region

electronically update at least one of the user-configured first index and the user-configured second index in response to new data; and

transmit a representation of the first value of the first user-configured index and a representation of the second value of the second user-configured index to the at least one user.

31. The system of claim 30, in which at least one of the user-configured first index and the user-configured second index is specific to a class of real estate.

32. The system of claim 30, in which at least one of the user-configured first index and the user-configured second index is specific to a kind of real estate.

33. The system of claim 30, in which at least one of the user-configured first index and the user-configured second index is specific to a size of real estate.

34. The system of claim 30, in which the new data is captured at a pre-determined time interval.

35. The system of claim 30, in which the method comprises capturing the new data from surveys of real estate.

36. The system of claim 30, in which the method comprises settling for the at least one user, at least one trade for at least one futures contract on at least one of the first user-configured index and the second user-configured index.

37. The system of claim 30, in which the method comprises settling for the at least one user, at least one trade for at least one option contract on at least one of the first user-configured index and the second user-configured index.

38. The system of claim 30, in which at least one of the first user-configured index and the second user-configured index is a statistical composite of real estate data.