System and method for facilitating trading of financial instruments

• US 7,769,668 B2
• Filed: 07/28/2005
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deep Liquidity, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Deep Liquidity, Inc.
• Inventors: Balabon, Sam
• Primary Examiner(s): Kazimi; Hani
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kanervo; Virpi H
• Application Number:
  US11/191,046
• Publication Number:
  US 20060026090A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,832 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system and method for facilitating trading of financial instruments. According to one embodiment, an application receives an indication of interest to trade a financial instrument by a first party, provides the indication of interest to other parties without disclosing a side of trade, receives an offer to trade the financial instrument by a second party based on the provided indication of interest, a side of trade being associated with the offer by the second party but not disclosed to the first party, and receives either a rejection or an acceptance of the second party'"'"'s offer by the first party.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating trading of financial instruments, comprising:

receiving by a computer an order to trade a financial instrument by a first party, the order specifying a price and a side of trade;

calculating by the computer a distance and a direction of the price in relationship to an inside quote of the financial instrument;

generating by the computer a reflected dummy order to trade the financial instrument on an opposite side of trade, wherein the reflected dummy order is an inversed replica of the order on an opposite side of trade and a price inversed from the inside quote of the financial instrument at an inversed calculated distance and an inversed calculated direction from the inside quote; and

displaying by the computer the first party'"'"'s order and the reflected dummy order to a second party, wherein the computer does not identify either order as a dummy order.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the side of trade of the first party'"'"'s order is a buy order and the opposite side of trade of the reflected dummy order is a sell order.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first party'"'"'s order price and the reflected dummy order price are pegged in relationship to the inside quote.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the side of trade of the first party'"'"'s order is a sell order and the opposite side of trade of the reflected dummy order is a buy order.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first party'"'"'s order price and the reflected dummy order price are pegged in relationship to the inside quote.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the best market price of the inside quote includes an artificial best bid or ask price calculated using a computer program connected to live market data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first party'"'"'s order includes an offer.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing to the first party an indication of interest by the second party.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the distance is zero with no direction.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial instrument comprises at least one financial instrument selected from a group consisting of:

a stock, an ETF, a fund, a bond, a contract, an option, a future, a commodity or a currency.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first party'"'"'s order comprises a size and the reflected dummy order comprises a size equal to the first party'"'"'s order size.

12. A computer-implemented method for trading financial instruments, comprising:

receiving by a computer from a first party a sell order to trade a financial instrument, the order specifying a price;

calculating by the computer a distance and a direction of the price in relationship to an inside quote of the financial instrument;

generating by the computer a reflected dummy buy order to trade the financial instrument on an opposite side of trade, wherein the reflected dummy buy order is an inversed replica of the sell order on the opposite side of trade with a price inversed from the inside quote of the financial instrument at an inversed calculated distance and an inversed calculated direction from the best market price of the inside quote;

displaying by the computer the sell order and the reflected dummy buy order via a user interface, wherein the computer does not identify either order as a dummy order;

receiving by the computer an order by a second party;

matching the first party'"'"'s order with the second party'"'"'s order; and

completing by the computer the order only if the second party'"'"'s order is a buy order.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein:

receiving by the computer from the first party the sell order price and the reflected dummy buy order price, wherein both prices are pegged in relationship to the inside quote.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the distance is zero with no direction.

15. A computer-implemented method for trading financial instruments, comprising:

receiving by a computer from a first party a buy order to trade a financial instrument, the order specifying a price;

calculating by the computer a distance and a direction of the price in relationship to an inside quote of the financial instrument;

generating by the computer a reflected dummy sell order to trade the financial instrument on an opposite side of trade, wherein the reflected dummy sell order is an inversed replica of the buy order on the opposite side of trade with a price inversed from the inside quote of the financial instrument at an inversed calculated distance and an inversed calculated direction from the best market price of the inside quote;

displaying by the computer the buy order and the reflected dummy sell order via a user interface, wherein the computer does not identify either order as a dummy order;

receiving by the computer an order by a second party;

matching the first party'"'"'s order with the second party'"'"'s order; and

completing by the computer the order only if the second party'"'"'s order is a sell order.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein:

receiving by the computer from the first party the buy order price and the reflected dummy sell order price, wherein both prices are pegged in relationship to the inside quote.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the distance is zero with no direction.